Mexico Stocks Open Lower On US GDP; Peso Firms Against Dollar

MEXICO CITY (Dow Jones)--Mexico's stocks opened on a negative note Friday after a report showed that U.S. fourth-quarter economic growth, although the most robust in more than a year, was short of expectations.

The market's IPC index of leading issues was down 0.3% recently at 37130 points. Volume was 24.6 million shares valued at 770.1 million pesos ($59.4 million).

Telecommunications heavyweight America Movil's L shares were down 0.1% to MXN15.33, and cement company Cemex's CPO shares were off 1.1% to MXN8.69. Banking group Banorte's O shares were gaining 0.3% to MXN52.84.

The U.S. Commerce Department reported that gross domestic product grew 2.8% in the fourth quarter, up from 1.8% in the third quarter but shy of the 3% expectation by economists. Improving U.S. economic data have been supportive of Mexican assets, including the peso. The peso has been recovering after being buffeted by risk aversion coming from Europe's debt troubles.

Investors were keeping one eye on U.S. economic prospects and the other on Greek debt talks and reports of progress being made. The peso was hovering below MXN13 to the U.S. dollar, recently quoted in Mexico City at MXN12.9520, according to Infosel, compared with MXN13.0063 at Thursday's close.

The peso's 2% gain this week and 7.8% appreciation so far this year puts it among the best-performing emerging market currencies, with support from investment flows and positioning that has led participants to cover short peso positions in the futures market, Banorte-Ixe said in a report.