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Argentina’s peso tumbled the most since March on speculation the central bank is seeking to weaken the currency after it stepped up dollar purchases in the foreign-exchange market yesterday.

The peso fell 0.7 percent to 3.823 per dollar at 2 p.m. New York time, from 3.7963 yesterday. It has lost 9.7 percent this year, the worst performance among 26 emerging-market currencies tracked by Bloomberg, and is down 74 percent since the government ended a one-to-one peg against the dollar in 2002.

The central bank bought about $100 million yesterday after the currency touched a six-month high, a spokesman said on the condition he not be identified in accordance with bank policy. Banco Central de la Republica Argentina didn’t buy dollars today, he said.

The central bank “must be comfortable with the peso weakening” after “aggressively” buying dollars yesterday, said Hector Blanco, a currency trader with brokerage ABC Mercado de Cambio in Buenos Aires. There were also “some companies exchanging excess pesos for dollars at the end of the year,” Blanco said.

The yield on Argentina’s 5.83 percent peso bonds due in 2033 slipped one basis points, or 0.01 percentage point, to 10.72 percent, according to Citibank Argentina.

Chilean Debt Plans

Colombia’s peso declined 0.1 percent to 2,043.21 per dollar from 2,042.37 yesterday. The currency has risen 10.1 percent in 2009, paring its drop in the past 10 years to 8.3 percent.

The yield on Colombia’s 11 percent benchmark bonds due in July 2020 fell two basis points to 8.48 percent, according to Colombia’s stock exchange.

Chile’s peso slid 0.3 percent to 507.75 per dollar from 506.5 yesterday. The peso has climbed 25.8 percent against the dollar this year, the best performance after Brazil’s real among major Latin American currencies and its biggest gain since at least 1982. The currency has advanced 4.2 percent this decade.

The yield for a basket of Chile’s 10-year peso bonds in inflation-linked currency units, called unidades de fomento, was unchanged at 3.19 percent, according to Bloomberg composite prices.

Chile’s Finance Ministry announced yesterday that it plans to sell $3 billion of bonds denominated in local currency in the first six months of next year. The plan is to sell debt that matures in five, 10, 20 and 30 years. The central bank will hold monthly auctions of about $206 million of its own debt due in two and five years, it said in a statement on its Web site.

Peru, Venezuela

Peru’s sol was little changed at 2.8855 per dollar, from 2.8845 yesterday. The sol has gained 8.6 percent on the dollar this year and 21.5 percent this decade.

The yield on Peru’s 8.6 percent sol-denominated bond due August 2017 slid one basis point to 5.08 percent, according to Citigroup Inc.’s local unit.

Venezuela’s bolivar climbed 0.5 percent to 5.95 per dollar in parallel trading, traders said. The currency is unchanged this year on the black market. Venezuelans buy dollars in the unregulated market when they can’t get government authorization to purchase them at the official exchange rate of 2.15 per dollar. President Hugo Chavez began setting an official exchange rate in February 2003.

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