Falabella Falls From Recordin Chile on Argentina Concern

SACI Falabella, Chile’s largest publicly traded company, fell for a third day on speculation that profit from retail outlets in Argentina will fall if the country devalues its currency.

Falabella, which operates department stores, shopping malls, supermarkets and home improvement stores, retreated 1.8 percent to 5,460 pesos at 5:05 p.m. in Santiago. It was the biggest loser on the benchmark Chilean Ipsa index. The stock, which reached a record high 5,710 pesos on Feb. 11, has since tumbled 4.4 percent.

“At Falabella’s current level, it hasn’t fully priced in the risk from Argentina,” German Guerrero, a partner at Santiago-based broker and asset manager MBI Servicios Financieros, said in a telephone interview.

Trading in foreign-exchange markets shows that some speculators are betting Argentina will follow Venezuela and devalue its currency. Santiago-based Falabella obtained 7.9 percent of its revenue from Argentina in 2011.

To contact the reporter on this story: Eduardo Thomson in Santiago at ethomson1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Papadopoulos at papadopoulos@bloomberg.net