Chilean stocks settled lower on Friday, dragged down by dominant telephone company Telefonica CTC Chile and airline LanChile, traders said.
The IPSA blue-chip index dropped 0.64 percent to 1,429.42 points but gained 1.2 percent over the week. The broader IGPA index slid 0.49 percent to 7,210.06 points.
"There was a lot of selective trading, foreign markets showed signs of weakness but the market was mainly watching LanChile and CTC," said Jorge Tolosa, analyst with Ugarte brokerage in Santiago.
The biggest decliner was flagship carrier LanChile, which plunged 3.95 percent to 2,190 pesos.
The market believed a key shareholder in LanChile was selling its stake. The company declined to comment on the transaction.
LanChile said in March that a group of shareholders representing 83 percent of the company would sell a 10 percent stake within six months through a secondary offering.
LanChile said that process was "continuing along its normal path."
CTC dipped 0.53 percent to 1,860 pesos after two days of strong gains as some minority shareholders sought to block the sale of the company's profitable mobile business unit to parent company Telefonica Moviles.

Copyright Reuters, 2004

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