BUENOS AIRES, Sept 13 (Reuters) - Argentina's bonds dippedon Friday while the trading price of the peso in the blackmarket veered further away from the official spot rate after thegovernment rolled out additional currency controls earlier thisweek.
The country's over-the-counter bonds dipped 2.5% whilecurrency trades in the unofficial parallel market saw the pesodip more than 2.44% to 61.5 per U.S. dollar. That took it toalmost 10% away from the official rate of 56.15 per greenback.
That was also a hair-breadth away from being the widest gapsince late 2015, which was recorded last week.
The black market dollar trade in Argentina has reignitedsince a shock primary election defeat for President MauricioMacri in August sparked a market sell-off and prompted thegovernment to roll out capital controls to protect the peso.
The central bank rolled out further measures this week toclose loopholes that were allowing traders to circumventrestrictions on dollar purchases.
"The latest measures seeking to limit exchange ratearbitrations created a negative reaction, not only in assetprices but also widening again the gaps" between the spot andunofficial rate, said Gustavo Ber, economist at Estudio Ber.
"That's down to the fact that currency exchange controls arebeing reinforced."
The gap between the two prices indicates that traders thinkthe official rate is over-valued or that there are limits on howmany dollars can be bought or sold through formal channels,creating demand for illicit trades.
Under Macri, who came to power in 2015 pledging to abolishcapital controls, the gap has been minimal and the volume hasdeclined. However, there was often a wide gap between the twoprices during currency controls under his predecessor CristinaFernandez de Kirchner.
Fernandez de Kirchner, who ran the country between 2007 and2015, is running for vice president on the main oppositionticket to Macri, which is widely expected to win the generalelection in October.
(Reporting by Adam Jourdan, Walter Bianchi and Jorge OtaolaEditing by Alistair Bell)