Mexican Stocks Raised to ‘Overweight’ at Citigroup (Update2)
February 08, 2010, 5:54 PM EST(Updates with closing prices in third paragraph.)
By Tal Barak Harif
Feb. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Mexican stocks were raised to “overweight” from “neutral” at Citigroup Inc., which cited the companies’ “attractive” valuations, an economic recovery and expectations that interest rate increases will be delayed until September.
Chilean shares were cut to “underweight” from “overweight” after outperforming the region since late November, New York-based strategists Geoffrey Dennis and Jason Press wrote in an e-mailed report dated Feb. 5.
Chile’s Ipsa stock index has gained 4.3 percent this year and increased 1 percent to 3,734.22 by 5 p.m. in New York. Mexico’s Bolsa index has dropped 4.6 percent in 2010, and increased 0.1 percent today to 30,649.44. The MSCI Latin America Index has dropped 12 percent so far this year.
“The U.S. economy should continue to recover during 2010, supporting Mexican growth,” Dennis and Press wrote.
America Movil SAB, Latin America’s largest wireless carrier, Organizacion Soriana SAB, Mexico’s second-largest grocery chain, Coca-Cola Femsa SAB, the largest soft-drink company in Latin America and Grupo Mexico SAB, the country’s largest mining company, are among Citigroup’s top Mexican stock picks, the bank said.
Corporacion Geo SAB, Mexico’s second-largest homebuilder, Alfa SAB, the world’s largest producer of aluminum engine heads, and Banco Compartamos SA, the Mexican bank that lends to low- income consumers, are top picks as well, they said.
--Editor: Harry Maurer, Laura Zelenko.
To contact the reporter on this story: Tal Barak Harif in Tel Aviv at tbarak@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tal Barak Harif at tbarak@bloomberg.net
