Argentine stocks sink 5 pct in global gloom
(Adds closing prices)
BUENOS AIRES, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Argentine stocks sank to a 33-month low on Wednesday, and bonds and the peso currency also succumbed to the global market gloom from the dark financial crisis in the United States.
The MerVal .MERV index of leading stocks plunged 5.07 percent to 1,491.98 points, its lowest level since late 2005. Volume was high at $37 million. Of active issues 23 advanced, 110 declined and seven were unchanged.
Session value leader Telecom (TEC2.BA), Argentina's leading telecommunications company, dove 8.9 percent to 6.75 pesos per share.
Argentina's sovereign debt fell an average 3.2 percent in over-the-counter trade in Buenos Aires. The dollar-denominated Disc bond shed 4.8 percent.
"No one wants to hold risk positions, so bond sales continue and that feeds back into a fall that doesn't seem to have an end," said one trader, who asked not to be named.
Investors had a terrifying day around the world as growing fear of financial risk sparked a global rout in stocks.
The peso currency, which is heavily controlled by the Central Bank, slipped 0.32 percent to 3.0125/3.1050 per dollar ARS=RASL in formal interbank trade. In informal trade between foreign exchange houses, as measured by Reuters, the peso gave up 0.24 percent to 3.170/3.175 per dollar ARSB=. (Reporting by Walter Bianchi and Jorge Otaola; Writing by Fiona Ortiz; Editing by Diane Craft)
