The Colombian benchmark IGBC stock index on Tuesday rose to its highest level since December 2007, boosted by the price of shares of state-controlled power generation company Isagen SA.
The Colombian IGBC stock index rose 2.7%, to 10,779.22 points, its highest level since Dec. 14, 2007, when it hit 10,838.25 points.
Shares of Isagen gained 3.6%, to 2,185 Colombian pesos ($1.11), after the company sold COP450 billion worth of local bonds to partly finance the construction of the hydropower plant on the Sogamoso River in Eastern Colombia.
“The amount of bonds is high but the Tuesday sale showed there is room for those bonds on the local market,” said Natalia Agudelo, a market analyst with local brokerage Interbolsa.
The investment plans will be heavy for Isagen, which will handle a negative cash flow during the next three years, though over the long run the company will boost its revenue with the project, she said.
Shares of state-controlled oil company Ecopetrol SA (ECOPETROL.BO) rose 3.3% to COP2,690.
Shares of state-controlled telephone company Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Bogota SA (ETB.BO), or ETB, gained 4.9%, to COP1,280. The Bogota city council plans to sell control of the company later this month and investors expect the sale price to reach COP1,500 per share, Cesar Tovar, a market analyst with local brokerage Nacional de Valores, said.
The peso strengthened to COP1,975.5 to the dollar from COP1,997 on Monday, while on the debt market, the yield on the 2020 benchmark government peso-denominated bond fell to 9.51% from 9.56% on the previous day. (Dow Jones)
