BCRA Managed to Buy $61 Million in a Tense Session with Strong Demand for Currency Coverage

The Central Bank (BCRA) purchased $61 million this Wednesday, August 26, in a session marked by strong demand for currency coverage and the "fixing" -setting of the exchange rate- of the D31G6, the dollar-linked bond with the largest maturity in the Milei era. The monetary authority managed to improve its purchasing balance compared to previous days, although it did so in a more demanding market with a traded volume of $680 million.

With this result, the BCRA absorbed about 9% of the volume traded in the official market and raised its purchasing balance for August to $547 million. Meanwhile, the accumulated purchases in 2026 reached $13.874 billion, while the balance for the week climbed to $81 million.

However, the improvement in the session was not enough to change the overall diagnosis for the month. The daily average for August stood at $32 million, still far from the $103 million in July, the $68 million in June, and the $137 million in May. Therefore, the Central Bank continues to buy, but with a more limited accumulation capacity than in previous months.

Despite the official purchase, gross international reserves fell by $129 million and closed at $50.783 billion. Thus, the stock remained above $50 billion, although it could not sustain the improvement of the last sessions.

The main pressure came from the valuation side. Gold fell by 1% and would have reduced the accounting value of the reserves by more than $100 million. Additionally, the global dollar advanced by 0.22%, while the euro fell by 0.20%, the pound retreated by 0.40%, the yuan depreciated by 0.04%, and the yen dropped by 0.08%.

In this way, the session again showed the difference between flow and stock. The BCRA was able to buy more dollars than in previous days, but the drop in gold and the global strengthening of the dollar ended up impacting the gross level of reserves.

On the currency front, the wholesale dollar rose by 0.17% and closed at $1,514 for sale. The quotation reaffirmed itself above the $1,500 barrier, on a day when the demand for coverage remained active due to the month-end and the dollar-linked maturity.

The movement occurred on the day of the fixing of the D31G6, whose reference exchange rate was defined for the repayment of a bond with a maturity of $2.595 billion. This amount exceeds that of the D31L6 in July and turned the session into a new test for the balance between the dollar, rates, and official intervention.

According to Martín de la Fuente, from BAVSA, the day was challenging for the economic team because it combined the fixing of the D31G6 with a higher volume in the currency market. The analyst noted that the MULC traded $679 million, above the average of $510 million that August showed, and that the wholesale closed at $1,514.

Additionally, De la Fuente warned that there was a strong intervention by the BCRA both in futures and in dollar-linked instruments. In this regard, he detailed that $410 million of D31G6 and $567 million of D30S6 were traded in BYMA PPT, suggesting that part of the rollover of the August bond was channeled through that market.

The tension was also reflected in the futures market. In this context, the traded volume reached $3.572 billion, well above the average close to $1 billion in August and also above what was traded during the fixing of the D31L6 in July.

In the curve, short-term contracts rose, but longer terms closed lower. August advanced by 0.17% and September rose by 0.06%, while December fell by 0.09% and the 2027 contracts retreated by up to 0.35%. On average, the overall variation was negative at 0.10%.

With these movements, the implied rate for August stood at 1.67% monthly, equivalent to 20.03% annualized, while September was at 1.74%, or 20.84% annualized. At the same time, rates in pesos rose again: the TAMAR went from 25.06% to 25.25% and the BADLAR advanced from 23.63% to 24.38%.

Among alternative dollars, the MEP rose by 0.30% to $1,542.96 and the cash with settlement advanced by 0.20% to $1,601.64. In contrast, the blue dollar fell by 0.64% and closed at $1,555. With these values, the gap between the blue and the wholesale dollar decreased to 2.71%, while the exchange rate stood at 3.80%.

Thus, the day left a signal of intense intervention rather than normalization. The BCRA bought $61 million and maintained a positive balance in the official market, but reserves fell due to gold, the wholesale dollar remained at highs, and the volumes in futures and dollar-linked showed that the demand for coverage continues to mark the pulse of the end of August.

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