A picture of newspapers at a newstand with images of Argentina's Lionel Messi celebrating with the trophy after winning the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 in the front page, in Buenos Aires, Argentina on December 19, 2022. REUTERS/Agustin Marcarian
Buenos Aires: Argentina's bonds and shares rose on Monday, a day after the country's soccer World Cup victory, as the good mood on the streets buoyed investor sentiment in the country.
"The reaction today could be due to some effect associated with the World Cup win," said economist Gustavo Ber. "ADRs and dollar bonds managed to avoid external weakness for the moment, as they have been doing recently as a result of tactical bets."
The S&P Merval stock index rose 1.83% to 168,128.28 points led by companies in the energy sector. Over-the-counter bonds, which are trading in distressed territory due to recent debt woes, rose an average 0.2%.
Analyst Marcelo Rojas said "the dollars that the AFA (Argentine Football Association) pockets for winning the cup in Qatar must enter through the central bank (given the strict exchange control in force), so reserves will benefit."
Argentina won a World Cup record of $42m for beating France in the final on Sunday, clinching the trophy for the first time since 1986. The team will arrive in the capital and celebrate the country's third World Cup win on Tuesday in downtown Buenos Aires.
It was unclear how much this was behind Monday's market rise, though a paper this year from the University of Surrey in England argued that a victory could boost the winning country's economy.
"The analysis shows that winning the FIFA World Cup increases GDP growth by at least 0.25 percentage points in the two subsequent quarters," said the paper by post-doctoral research fellow Marco Mello.
"This result seems primarily driven by enhanced exports growth, which is consistent with a greater appeal enjoyed by national products and services on the global market after the victory of a major sport event."
