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Mexican stocks

extend slide

MEXICO CITY: Mexican stocks extended losses at the close Thursday to end 17.21 points lower in busy trade amid concerns about a late slump in the peso and the rocky state of the economy, traders said.

"The drop was accelerated by what happened with the exchange rate, people got nervous and started selling," a trader said.

On hefty volume of 203.36 million shares, the Bolsa's main 37-share IPC index ended down 17.21 points at 2,485.42.

Much of the volume was concentrated in airline Aeromexico, which rallied. Banks were hard hit by rumours of a possible new debt restructuring scheme.

Traders said stocks were affected by a 10.5 percent drop in second quarter Gross Domestic Product, which also hit the peso, and one said foreign investors were selling.

But others noted that the second quarter performance should already have been factored out because of second quarter earnings reports, that were better than expected.

"If there were good reports with this (GDP) drop, then you should have a more positive vision for the market," the trader said.-Reuter