Argentine peso, stock exchange plummet after crushing Macri vote defeat

Argentina's peso and the Buenos Aires stock exchange plunged on Monday after populist center-left candidate Alberto Fernandez crushed pro-business President Mauricio Macri in a party primary election over the weekend.

Nervousness reigned as the peso opened at 53 to the dollar, a drop of 14 per cent from its closing figure of 46.55 on Friday, before plummeting further to 60.

And the Merval index crashed 30 per cent, too, as markets reacted with jitters to Macri's rout.

Macri called a meeting with Central Bank president Guido Sandleris before the markets opened on Monday, while putting back his morning cabinet meeting to 3:30 pm (1830 GMT.)
Political analyst Sergio Berensztein described it as the government's "worst political crisis."