Colombia’s peso on Tuesday rose to a nine-month high on bets dollar flows into the South American country will increase after the government Monday sold $500 million worth of debt in international markets, and as oil prices rise.
The peso advanced 0.4% to 1,870.9 per U.S. dollar at 11:40AM New York time, from 1,877.9 yesterday. It touched 1,866.85, its strongest level since October 20. The peso has jumped 9.2% this year, the best performance among all currencies tracked by Bloomberg.
“Dollars continue to flow into Colombia,” said Alexander Cardenas, head of research at brokerage Acciones y Valores SA in Bogota. “Besides the government repatriating funds, companies are bringing in dollars from sales abroad, including oil.”
Colombia sold $500 million worth of bonds yesterday, completing its plan to sell an additional $500 million in overseas debt to replace revenue from the scrapped sale of power company Isagen SA. The securities, known as Global TES, are denominated in pesos and payable in dollars.
Oil, Colombia’s biggest export, jumped as much as 3.2% today.
The yield on Colombia’s benchmark 11% bonds due July 2020 fell two basis points, or 0.02 percentage point, to 7.58%, according to Colombia’s stock exchange. That’s the lowest level on a closing basis since April 2006. The bond’s price rose 0.123 centavo to 123.464 centavos per peso. (Andrea Jaramillo / Bloomberg)
