Colombia stocks managed small gains Friday following four days of sharp declines, while Colombia’s peso ended lower for the week after the government moved to stem its surge against the dollar.
The IGBC index, considered the benchmark for Colombian stocks, rose 0.54% to close at 13841.64 points. A day earlier the index closed at its lowest mark in eight months.
The Colombian peso, which surged in April leading to complaints by exporters that their products are becoming too costly overseas, weakened Friday to COP1,771.85 for $1 compared with COP1,763.80 at Thursday’s close.
Colombia’s government announced April 29 that to help stem the peso’s strength it would buy throughout the rest of the year up to $1.2 billion in greenbacks in the forex market to create a fund to pay off foreign debt in 2012. The peso is 0.2% weaker since that announcement was made.