Small unprofitable brokers in Buenos Aires are playing a waiting
game. They know their days are numbered and that they have neither
the skill nor the capital to survive in the global era. When the
trading floor of the exchange is finally closed, as everybody
agrees it some day must be, many small firms will go with it.
But in the meantime they are in a position to hold up reform of
the Argentine stock market and prevent it from responding to
change. The fear is that they could be so successful that they kill
the entire market in the process. Buenos Aires has been hit by a
wave of delistings reducing its market capitalization by half and
daily trading volumes to $20 million or $30 million from $50
million a few years back.
Globalization has also taken its toll on the market, with foreign
companies busy delisting their Argentine...
