Mexico’s Peso Falls as Calderon’s Party Loses Midterm Election

By Valerie Rota

July 6 (Bloomberg) -- Mexico’s peso fell as a partial vote count showed President Felipe Calderon’s party was defeated in midterm elections, fueling concern the government will struggle to push through laws aimed at buoying tax collection.

The peso weakened 0.4 percent to 13.2878 per U.S. dollar at 9:08 a.m. New York time, from 13.2307 on July 3. It touched 13.3755, the weakest since June 23.

Calderon’s National Action Party took 27.9 percent of the votes in the July 5 elections, while the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party won 36.6 percent of the vote, according to 96.9 percent of all votes counted by the Federal Electoral Institute.

To contact the reporter on this story: Valerie Rota in Mexico City at vrota1@bloomberg.net.