International Business

MEXICAN STOCKS

* The Bolsa stock index closed below 2,400 points Wednesday for the first time in three weeks as a selloff of Telmex issues pushed the market down for a second straight day. Telefonos de Mexico, a bellwether of the nation’s economy, said net profit in the second quarter rose 30% from the same 1994 period, but it also said operating profit fell 32% and that sales dropped 7.1%. “People were expecting a fall with respect to operating profits and sales, but probably not as much as this,” one trader said.

* For the first time since February, all Mexican government bill and bond rates in the weekly auction Wednesday landed below 40%.

The Bolsa Index

Wednesday closes: 2,379.21

Sources: Bloomberg Business News, Dow Jones

SPOTLIGHT: PORTUGAL

Once the poorest country in the European Union, Portugal today is a stable democracy that is modernizing and becoming wealthier. In 1989, the last vestiges of Marxism were removed from its constitution, laying the groundwork for privatization of enterprises. Per-capita income, which stood at $700 in 1974, is now nearly $8,000.

Sources: Bank of America, World Information Services