BCRA Resumes Purchases as Reserves Exceed $49 Billion Again

The Central Bank (BCRA) resumed purchases in the official foreign exchange market on Wednesday, July 29, after breaking a streak of 135 consecutive days with a positive balance in the previous session. Specifically, the monetary authority acquired $36 million in a day with lower trading volume, absorbing about 9% of the $416 million traded in the spot segment.

With this result, the buyer balance for July rose to $1.999 billion, while net purchases accumulated in 2026 reached $13.164 billion. Thus, the BCRA quickly returned to the market after Tuesday's pause, although the pace of intervention remained moderate compared to the higher records of the month.

The daily average of purchases in July stood at $105 million, above the $68 million in June, but still below the $137 million in May. Therefore, the month maintains a favorable balance for the accumulation of foreign currency, although the last week began to show a scenario more conditioned by maturities, hedges, and specific movements of supply and demand.

Meanwhile, gross international reserves increased by $269 million, ending at $49.200 billion. Thus, the stock returned to above $49 billion after a drop of $234 million recorded in the previous session.

The improvement was supported by asset valuation. Gold rose by 0.15% and would have contributed about $35 million to the book value of the Central Bank's holdings. Additionally, the euro increased by 0.54% against the dollar, and the pound gained 0.41%, while the yuan appreciated by 0.07% and the yen advanced by 0.17%.

The rebound allowed for a partial recovery of the previous deterioration, although it did not change the main focus of the week. After interrupting its buying streak, the BCRA again showed presence in the market, but with limited purchases and in a context where the demand for hedging remains a central variable.

On the exchange front, the wholesale dollar fell by 0.13% and closed at $1,496 for sale. According to Gustavo Quintana, the currency ended two pesos below the previous close, in a session with lower volume and a slight selling trend.

The analyst noted that the highs were recorded at the beginning of the session, at $1,500, two pesos above the previous close. However, the supply of currencies improved during the session and diluted the initial pressure on prices. Later, inflows intensified in the last stretch and brought the wholesale rate down to a minimum of $1,495 before a slight recovery at the close.

Quintana emphasized that in the first three days of the week, the wholesale exchange rate fell by $1, compared to a rise of $5 recorded in the same period of the previous week. In this sense, he indicated that lower demand for hedging and renewed official interventions in futures helped justify the first negative correction of the wholesale rate after four bullish sessions that had taken it to historical highs.

Among financial dollars, the MEP fell by 0.60% to $1,524.06, while the cash with settlement dropped by 0.91% to $1,597.54. Meanwhile, the blue dollar remained stable at $1,570. With these values, the gap between the blue and the wholesale rate stood at 4.95%, while the exchange closed at 4.82%.

In futures, the curve operated with widespread declines. July fell by 0.23%, August decreased by 0.26%, September lost 0.32%, and October dropped by 0.35%. Additionally, the 2027 contracts also showed declines in most segments, with a general negative variation of 0.31%.

With these movements, the implied rate for July returned to negative territory, at -0.51% monthly, equivalent to -6.10% annualized. In contrast, the rate for August stood at 1.48% monthly, or 17.74% annualized. In pesos, the TAMAR rose from 22.81% to 22.88%, while the BADLAR returned to 22% after closing at 20.94% in the previous session.

The dynamics of futures remained under observation following the fixing of the dollar-linked bond D31L6, which was due on Friday and had an outstanding amount of $2.247 billion. According to PPI, the absence of purchases on Tuesday coincided with this event and deepened a pattern that repeated during 2026, as on the adjustment days of dollar-linked instruments, the BCRA tended to moderate its acquisitions in the official market.

The brokerage firm also noted that the strong volume traded in the D31G6, the dollar-linked bond for August, again focused attention on a possible official presence in the secondary market to contain exchange rate pressures. In this line, it estimated that the BCRA would have sold about $82 million of those instruments on July 22, after not recording interventions since July 13.

Thus, the session left a partial recovery. The BCRA resumed buying dollars, reserves regained the threshold of $49 billion, and the wholesale rate fell for the first time in the week. However, attention will remain on the close of July, as the maturities of dollar-linked instruments, the demand for hedging, and the intervention in futures continue to mark the pulse of the foreign exchange market.