Colombia’s peso weakened amid a drop
in oil, the nation’s biggest export, and on concern the financial
crisis is deepening, hurting investor appetite for higher-
yielding, emerging-market assets.
The peso dropped 0.5 percent to 2,242.1 per dollar at 9:08
a.m. in New York, from 2,230.1 on Jan. 16, according to the
Colombian foreign-exchange electronic transactions system, known
as SET-FX. Because of the U.S. holiday yesterday, Colombia’s
currency and bonds traded in the so-called next-day market, in
which payment and delivery are made the following trading day.
The yield on Colombia’s 11 percent bonds due in July 2020
rose for a second day, increasing six basis points, or 0.06
percentage point, to 10.12 percent, according to Colombia’s stock
exchange. The price fell 0.382 centavo to 105.694 centavos per
peso.
Crude oil for February delivery fell to as low as $32.70 a
barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, its weakest since
Dec. 19. (Bloomberg)