Colombia’s stocks fell Tuesday, dragged down by shares of state-controlled Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Bogota SA and the country’s largest bank, Bancolombia SA.
The benchmark IGBC stock index fell 2.1% to 10,943.32 points. The market was closed on Monday.
Shares of ETB fell 11% to 890 Colombian pesos ($0.49) after the company said the court handling a case between the company and its workers’ union upheld an order to suspend the search for a controlling partner.
The shares are down 29% since the lawsuit started in mid-September.
“The process to seek a partner is all but paralyzed until the lawsuit ends,” said Johanna Castro, a market analyst with local brokerage Corredores Asociados. “We consider the shares aren’t worth more than COP970 or COP1,000 at most.”
Preferred shares of Bancolombia SA fell 1.4% to COP19,780. The price fell as a result of the arbitrage with Bancolombia’s New York-listed shares, which lost value in peso terms as the Colombian currency has appreciated strongly in the past days.
The peso appreciated to COP1,826 to the dollar Tuesday from COP1,847 Friday. The peso hit its strongest level since Aug. 8, 2008.
The yield on the benchmark peso-denominated government bond maturing in 2020 fell to 8.760% from 8.769% Friday. (Dow Jones)