The Colombian peso weakened Tuesday as market participants bought
dollars anticipating market volatility ahead of first-quarter earnings
for U.S. companies.
The peso weakened to end at 2,420.20 to the dollar from
COP2,409 on Monday amid a slow session that traded $720 million.
Many market participants and investors took Tuesday off to celebrate a
long Easter holiday. Colombian markets and government offices will
close on Thursday and Friday for Easter.
“The few market participants still working bought dollar positions on
speculation that U.S. companies won’t report good net profits in the
first quarter of the year,” said Diego Camacho, head of research at
local brokerage Acciones de Colombia.
In the equity market, the local stock market index climbed 0.22% to
8,170.40 points, propelled by shares of the country’s largest holding,
Suramericana de Inversiones (SURAMINV.BO), and state-owned oil company
Ecopetrol (ECOPETROL.BO).
Suramericana was the most-heavily traded stock. It rose 0.6% to
COP16,100, while Ecopetrol climbed 0.5% to COP2,185 after the company
said it found oil in the southern province of Putumayo.
The new wells would produce about 300 barrels of crude a day, the company said on Monday.
In the local bond market, the yield on the benchmark domestic paper maturing in 2020 ended at 9.480% from 9.515% on Monday.
The yield fell as investors rushed to buy TES bonds after the consumer
price index rose a smaller-than-expected amount in March.
Consumer prices rose 0.50% last month, while market participants had expected 0.65%. (Dow Jones)
