The Colombian stock market gained Friday, propelled by shares of
state-controlled oil company Ecopetrol as investors
rushed to buy Ecopetrol a day after the company sold $1.5 billion in
international bonds.
The Colombian IGBC stock index advanced 1.1% to 9,893.91 points in
a session that traded 143.5 billion Colombian pesos ($71.7 million)
worth of shares.
On Thursday, Ecopetrol sold $1.5 billion in bonds with demand totaling more than $8 billion.
“The successful bond sale of Ecopetrol prompted investors to buy
Ecopetrol’s shares,” said Cesar Tovar, head of research at local
brokerage Nacional de Valores.
Shares of Ecopetrol rose 1.4% to COP2,635. It was the most-heavily traded stock of the session.
The second most-heavily traded stock was power generator Isagen, which climbed 1.3% to COP2,300. Isagen rose as the
government may soon announce the sale conditions for its stake in the
Medellin-based company, Tovar said.
On the foreign exchange market, the peso strengthened to
COP2,009.90 to the dollar from COP2,024 on Thursday in a session that
traded $1.4 billion.
The peso almost hit the COP2,000 threshold earlier today but banks
and pension funds bought dollars to take advantage of the peso’s
appreciation, said Jorge Zuniga, analyst at the Medellin-based
brokerage Asesores en Valores.
“Banks were short of dollar positions and once the peso approached
the COP2,000 level, they started buying greenbacks,” Cardenas said.
The yield on the benchmark local peso-denominated bond, known as
TES, maturing in 2020 fell slightly to 8.938% from 8.97% on Thursday. (Dow Jones)