The Colombian IGBC stock index rose 2.2% on Wednesday following price increases in New York.
The IGBC stock index rose 2.2% to 10,765.81 points, after losing 3.5% during the previous two sessions. The Colcap index, which includes the largest companies in market capitalization, gained 1.7% to 1,262.5 points.
Stocks in Colombia followed the market in the U.S., where the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose above 9900 points at some point in the session. The DJIA then dipped, but the market in Colombia was already closed. The Colombian trading ends at 1 p.m. EST.
“The local market follows what happens in the U.S. and the exchange in New York is recovering from last week’s declines,” said Julian Marquez, a market analyst with local holding company Corficolombiana SA.
Shares of state-controlled oil company Ecopetrol SA were the most-traded as they gained 3% to close at COP2,560.
Preferred shares of the country’s largest bank Bancolombia SA rose 2.4% to COP19,960.
As a result of rising demand for risky assets such as Colombian shares, the Colombian peso strengthened Wednesday to 1,961 pesos to the dollar from COP1,988.5 on Tuesday.
Marquez expects the peso to continue to strengthen as the government’s and central bank’s measures will have a short-lived effect. He sees the peso ending the year at around COP1,855 to the dollar.
The yield on the benchmark TES bond ended at 8.277% compared with 8.329% on Tuesday. (Dow Jones)