Colombia’s peso rose the most in
more than two weeks as an unexpected increase in sales of
existing U.S. homes buoyed optimism a recovery in the world’s
biggest economy may spur demand for the nation’s exports.
Colombia’s peso strengthened for a second day, gaining 2.1
percent to 2,496.65 per dollar at 4:08 p.m. New York time, from
2,548.30 yesterday. Today’s gain pares the peso’s plunge so far
this year to 9.9 percent, the fourth-biggest drop among a basket
of 26 emerging-market currencies tracked by Bloomberg.
“We’re still in a moment of a lot of uncertainty and
volatility, but little by little you start to see optimism that
the second half of the year will be better,” said Bertrand
Delgado, senior Latin America economist at RGE Monitor, an
economic research company in New York. The U.S. is Colombia’s
biggest trading partner.
The Colombian peso erased an earlier drop as the Standard &
Poor’s 500 Index rose as much as 2 percent after the National
Association of Realtors said today the index of signed purchase
agreements, or pending home resales, gained 2.1 percent in
February. Economists in a Bloomberg survey expected no change.
The yield on the nation’s 11 percent bonds due in July 2020
fell 10 basis points, or 0.1 percentage point, to 9.58 percent,
according to Colombia’s stock exchange. The bond’s price
increased 0.744 centavos per peso to 109.447 centavos. (Bloomberg)