Colombian stocks retreated Wednesday, once again pushed lower by a drop in oil stocks, while the peso weakened sharply against the U.S. dollar.
The Colcap index, the mostly widely used benchmark for Colombian stocks, fell 0.45% to end the session at 1586.55 points. The index has declined 13% so far this year.
Pacific Rubiales Energy, a Toronto-based oil company that is Colombia’s largest independent oil producer, fell 0.63% to COP41,000. The stock was pushed lower by a drop in crude prices. Light, sweet crude for November delivery settled $3.24, or 3.8%, lower to $81.21 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Another oil stock that was hurt by the drop in crude prices was that of Petrominerales Ltd., a Calgary-based oil company with assets in Colombia and Peru. Petrominerales shares declined 3.85% to COP40,940.
Almacenes Exito, Colombia’s largest retailer, posted a 0.44% increase to COP22,900. The company recently completed a secondary placement in the local exchange for 2.5 trillion Colombian pesos ($1.3 billion) to finance its overseas expansion.
The Colombian peso, meanwhile, weakened sharply against the U.S. dollar to end the session at 1,918.75 to the dollar from COP1,889.00 a day earlier. Renewed worries over Europe’s sovereign-debt woes have resulted in a dearth of demand for Colombian pesos.
The yield on Colombia’s peso-denominated bond due July 2024 closed at 7.561%, after opening the session at 7.534%.