COLOMBIA: Colcap Rises 0.39% Boosted By Bancolombia And Sura

(RTTNews) - Colcap, the main index of the Colombian Stock Exchange, rose 0.39% to 1,520.76 points Friday, boosted by the good performance of Bancolombia and Sura. In the week, the Colombian market gained 3.39%.

Erika Baquero, an analyst at Alianza Valores, said that the Colcap closed higher despite Ecopetrol's drop, while the shares of Sura and Bancolombia tracked its ADRs in Wall Street.

Meanwhile, the Colombian consumer price index rose 3.14% in March on an annual basis, slowing down from 3.37% in February and below market expectations. According to Rodrigo S?nchez, an analyst at Ultraserfinco, the data could foster the Central Bank to lower interest rates.

The shares of Sura (+1.76%), Grupo Aval (+1.23%), and Bancolombia (+0.92%) rose, while Ecopetrol (-0.36%) and Avianca (-0.33%) fell.

The locally traded U.S. dollar closed at 2,793.00 Colombian pesos, marking a 0.12% rise due to the drop in oil prices abroad. Rodrigo S?nchez, an analyst at Ultraserfinco, noted that the commodity continues to fall after the release of crude inventories data in the United States that came the expected by the market.