By Shane Romig 
   Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES 
 

BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)--Argentine stocks ended the week on a sour note as an ongoing clash between the government and the country's largest oil and gas company rattled investors' nerves.

Argentina's benchmark Merval stock index lost 0.7% to close at 2,665.20 points. Volume was moderate at 43 million pesos ($10 million).

However, the Global X FTSE Argentina 20 ETF (ARGT), which tracks shares of Argentine companies listed on international markets, rose 0.6% to close at $11.30 in New York amid moderate gains at U.S. exchanges.

YPF SA (YPFD.BA, YPF) set the tone and led the losses, falling 3.8% to ARS133.50.

On Thursday, the government asked the company to reinvest its earnings from the last two years in exploration and production instead of paying dividends to shareholders. Shareholders were unimpressed.

The request comes amid an intense government campaign to force YPF, which is majority-owned by Spain's Repsol-YPF (REP.MC, REPYY), to boost production.

Argentina's President Cristina Kirchner and government officials have blasted YPF repeatedly in recent months for failing to raise output at a time when Argentina faces a growing and increasingly expensive energy deficit.

Speculation that the government is considering nationalizing the company has sent share prices plummeting in recent weeks.

Despite the broad losses, energy, rail, real-estate and tourism holding company, Sociedad Comercial del Plata SA (CVVIF, COME.BA) had a strong day, rising 3.2% to ARS0.84.

Meanwhile, bonds did better although results were mixed.

The dollar-denominated 2038 par bond rose 1.9% in price terms to ARS192, bringing the yield to 9.56%.

The peso-denominated 2035 GDP warrant closed unchanged at ARS13.30.

The peso weakened slightly to close at ARS4.3425 to the U.S. dollar on the MAE local foreign-exchange wholesale market, compared with ARS4.3385 at Thursday's close.

-By Shane Romig, Dow Jones Newswires; 54-11-4103-6738; shane.romig@dowjones.com