Colombian stocks continued moving higher Thursday, securing a new record for the index thanks to a boost from shares of Grupo Aval after the banking conglomerate said it was moving into the Central American banking sector with a $1.9 billion purchase.
The IGBC stock index, the benchmark for Colombia, climbed 0.67% to 12,957 points, continuing a string of record highs. The index is up 11.6% so far this year and has risen 33% in the last 12 months.
Grupo Aval saw its shares climb 1.87% to 980 Colombian pesos (52 U.S. cents). The company, which controls Banco de Bogota, Colombia’s second largest bank, agreed to pay $1.9 billion to General Electric Co. for the purchase of BAC-Credomatic, a financial firm that focuses on credit cards in Central America.
Shares of state-run oil firm Ecopetrol SA rose 1.71% to COP2,980.
The peso stood at COP1,869 to the U.S. dollar, weakening from its opening level of COP1,865. (Darcy Crowe / Dow Jones)