(Reuters) -The United States purchased Argentine pesos and finalized a $20 billion currency swap framework with Argentina’s central bank after a meeting between the two countries’ top finance officials in Washington this week, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday.

The market for Argentine pesos was closed when the news came out but the peso strengthened right before trading stopped at 2:00 pm ET/1800 GMT and was last quoted at 1,418 per dollar. Argentine dollar bonds also rose sharply.

Argentina’s markets are closed on Friday.

COMMENTS:

MARC CHANDLER, CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST, BANNOCKBURN CAPITAL MARKETS, NEW YORK

“We’re not just giving them dollars. we’re getting an asset in exchange for that. What we’re trying to do is give them enough money so it can stabilize the

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