• Submitted by: manso
• Business and Economy
• 08 / 16 / 2011

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“It caught my attention the day before yesterday that the world media reported that all the stock markets in the world fell yesterday, except Venezuela’s,” said Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez proudly from Cuba where he was undergoing chemotherapy for his cancer.

CARACAS -- Caracas stocks rose 7.1% last week, closing at 99,528, a new all-time high.

Banco Provincial was the leading mover. Its shares rose 13.7% to close at Bs. 36. Fondo de Valores Inmobiliarios shares rose 3.8% to Bs. 10, Mercantil Servicios Financieros B rose 2.2% to Bs. 2.2 and Sivensa rose 1.4% to Bs. 7.4. Manpa was the only stock in the index to drop, closing at Bs. 2.76 for a 1.4% loss.

Since it was announced that Chavez has been ill with cancer, the Venezuelan stock market has been on a tear, as investors from around the world pile in to pick up great companies at bargain prices in the hope that there will be govrnment change.

Some analysts consider it ironic that Chavez is now boasting about the stock market's rise, since he has done all he can to kill the local stock market. He intervened and shut down more than 50 of the country's 100 brokerage firms, accusing them of sparking inflation, fueling capital flight and laundering money. Another one-third of the stockbrokers voluntarily closed after that. Last year, Chavez said the government was bringing down an old system of "fraud houses" run by a "mafia".

"Nothing and nobody is going to stop me, I guarantee you, Mr. Oligarchs," he said.

As a result of Chavez's killing of the investment banking business in Venezuela, volume on the Caracas Stock Exchange before Chavez got ill was running at less than US$100,000 a week. That is, until he announced he was ill with cancer. Since then, the Venezuelan market has doubled its gain for the year.

The Venezuela Stock Market Index is now up 52.38% for the year to date.

Source: www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=416797&CategoryId=10717