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Mexican shares climb

MEXICO CITY: Mexican stocks climbed 40.97 points, or 1.64 percent, closing the week on a high note after three days of solid gains.

A combination of declining interest rates and increased confidence that the market could rally over much of the rest of the year has underpinned its performance.

Also, the heavily-weighted Telmex phone company put in a strong performance, as traders shrugged off disappointing six-months earnings last week.

The bolsa's main 37-share IPC index hit 2,541.46 points on heavy volume of 146.1 million shares.

Some analysts are even predicting the bolsa may hit record highs by the end of the year, despite a recession currently pounding the economy.

"People's perception is different. Perhaps they didn't expect the good earnings results of some issuers and now they're beginning to send down money because they think the upward trend will continue," an analyst said. During the week, the market rallied 5.68 percent.

Setting the tone, Telmex A shares rose 0.76 percent Friday, while its Ls were up 0.19 percent. It has risen despite a drop on Wall Street where it is also listed.

In the session, 110 issues changed hands, with 76 rising, 13 going down and 21 unchanged. By far the busiest stock was Aeromexico CPO. It accounted for 33.83 million of the shares traded, and has been extremely volatile lately as a result of a plan to raise capital and renegotiate its debt.

Retailer Liverpool C1 was the biggest gainer, surging 15.45 percent, and Bancomer B, Mexico's second bank, rose 12.84 percent. On the downside, Grupo Financiero Banorte lost 4.94 percent, and financial group Abaco B fell 3.55 percent.

The 20-share Mexico Index, INMEX, rose 4.19 points, or 2.47 percent, to 174.02 points.-Reuter