Argentine pension funds were preparing on Tuesday to liquidate their assets in Brazil, to comply with a government order to repatriate funds that could enable it to support the peso, which this week fell to five-year lows against the dollar.

The move, a prelude to a proposed nationalisation of private pension funds, has intensified questions over what the government will do with the more than $10bn (€8bn, £6.4bn) the funds hold in private investments, including shares in domestic and foreign companies.