Argentina central bank sells $45.5 mln to support exchange rate

Oct 21 (Reuters) - Argentina's central bank sold $45.5 million from its reserves on Tuesday to support the exchange rate, after the peso reached the upper limit of the central bank's floating band.

The intervention came as uncertainty in the market ahead of Sunday's legislative elections spurred a shift toward dollar assets. Libertarian Javier Milei's party aims to gain more seats in Congress, where it currently holds a minority in both chambers.

The central bank has kept the peso in a managed band since April, intervening at times to keep the exchange rate within that range, which on Tuesday sat at 938.33 and 1,491.07 pesos per dollar for buying and selling, respectively.

Following Tuesday's intervention, the central bank's international reserves stood at $40.539 billion.

Recent signs of political weakness have put the administration of President Javier Milei under pressure, forcing him to seek support from the United States for a $20 billion currency swap to guarantee payment of the next public debt maturity.

Pre-election exchange rate tensions caused the wholesale peso to close at 0.7% lower at 1,490.5 per dollar ARS=RASL, after reaching record lows and reaching the top of the floating band.