Peru presidential race narrows to razor-thin margin as markets rally

Investors responded to the tightening count by snapping up Peruvian assets, pushing U.S.-listed miner Buenaventura up 8.2% and Intercorp Financial Services up 12.9%. The iShares MSCI Peru and Global Exposure ETF climbed 6.7%, while the sol currency gained 2.45% against the dollar. This rally serves as a direct counter to last Friday’s selloff, which was sparked by Sanchez’s proposals to overhaul the mining-heavy economy through constitutional reform and aggressive new taxation.

With 95.95% of votes tallied, Sanchez maintains a slim lead of 50.06% to Fujimori’s 49.94%. While rural votes initially bolstered Sanchez’s position, current figures show his lead shrinking from 50,000 to approximately 20,000 as ballots from abroad favor the conservative contender. Alfredo Torres, head of pollster Ipsos, noted that the remaining pool of votes—including those flagged for review in the Lima metropolitan area—could potentially flip the final outcome. Peru’s electoral authority, ONPE, expects the complete count to conclude in July.