Buenos Aires---Argentina's stock market lost 5.42 percent Tuesday, dragged down by shares in Brazil's state oil giant Petrobras, hit hard in recent months by falling oil prices and a corruption scandal.
The Merval stock index closed at 10,838.14 points as Petrobras shares plunged 8.34 percent.
Aluminum company Aluar lost 8.15 percent and oil and services firm Comercial del Plata lost 6.77 percent.
The trading session was also weighed down by a 48-hour strike by bank workers demanding a raise.
Stock markets were also down in Europe and the United States.
Petrobras stocks have been hit hard in Sao Paulo, New York, Madrid and Buenos Aires by revelations the firm lost $2.1 billion to a massive kickbacks scheme implicating company executives and top politicians.
Falling oil prices have also hurt the company, as well as news Tuesday that Brazil's deficit rose to $32.5 billion in the first four months of the year amid an economic slowdown.
AFP
