This week, several external impulses aligned in favor of the main selective index of the Santiago Stock Exchange, the IPSA. In fact, they led it to its biggest rise so far this year, with which it was able to regain 6,500 points. “The IPSA’s rise was driven by SQM shares,” says Guillermo Araya, research manager at Renta4. “The selective showed a fairly significant rise due to the increase in the price of copper,” adds José Agustín Cristi, portfolio manager of Chilean equities at Zurich. These factors would have been the main drivers that allowed the selective to close with a 2.47% rise, the highest since November 2023, to 6,551 points. The jump of SQM, the most important stock in the index, in addition to the flows brought by the high price of copper, would be a beneficial cocktail for the IPSA. The non-metallic mining company was the second share that rose the most in the selective index, with a jump of 5.75%. The boost came from outside. “After Elon Musk traveled to China with the aim of overcoming regulatory obstacles, which would allow Tesla’s sales to increase,” says Araya, from Renta4. “This boosted the price of lithium futures and other major producers.” Albemarle rose more than 7%. “What happened with Tesla is generating effervescence not only in the stock, but in the whole sector,” agrees Hugo Osorio, investment director at Portfolio Capital. And the energy injected by SQM was added to that of the red metal. “This rise in the IPSA is more associated with a flow to Chile due to the copper effect,” says Pedro Letelier, analyst of Latin American shares. “And it would be reaching many stocks that are perceived by the market as discounted (laggards) such as Falabella, Copec and CMPC,” he adds. Copper closed Monday with a rise of 0.67% to US$ 4.506 per pound on the London Stock Exchange. The IPSA’s rise, however, was also helped by the shares of Enel Chile, which soared 5.75%. And Cristi, from Zurich, adds another factor: “local companies are beginning to report their first quarter results, so investors are beginning to position themselves in those with better prospects”, he says. Source: El Mercurio