Colombia's IGBC Stock Index Falls 2.1%, Following DJIA

Colombia's IGBC Stock Index Falls 2.1%, Following DJIA

BOGOTA (Dow Jones)--The Colombian stock index fell Friday, dragged down by stocks in the U.S.

The benchmark IGBC stock index ended 2.1% lower at 10,921.26 points.

U.S. stocks also tumbled Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling more than 240 points as investors are concerned whether the DJIA's 48% increase since March is justified after seeing mixed economic data over the past couple of days.

"The market here is concerned about what may happen in the U.S.," said Monica Agudelo, a market analyst with local brokerage Asesores en Valores. "The good GDP growth on Thursday in the U.S. made people worry on Friday as it seems the growth was boosted by government spending," she said.

The most-traded shares were those of Colombia's largest holding firm, Grupo de Inversiones Suramericana SA (GRUPOSURA.BO), which fell 4% to 22,500 Colombian pesos ($11.28), while the preferred shares of the country's largest bank, Bancolombia SA (CIB), fell 3.5% to COP19,700.

The Colombian peso weakened to COP1,994.1 to the dollar from COP1,975.05 Thursday, while the yield on the 2020 benchmark peso-denominated government ended at 8.400%, from 8.395% Thursday.

Dollar Down from Record High on Chinese Economic Concerns

The U.S. dollar rose after extending once again its record high for 2009 after China missed slightly its quarterly growth forecasts, and economic stimulus in the country will continue for a certain amount of time, suggesting the country is not so recovered as previous expected.

The euro fell below $1.50 against the dollar after touching the highest rates in 14 months in a movement that can be interpreted as corrective, since stocks fell globally, helping the dollar to gain the most versus commodity linked currencies like its Australian counterpart, and also emergent market options in Asia like the South Korean won, and in Latin America like the Brazilian real. The dollar also gained against the Swedish krona, after the Riksbank, Sweden’s central financial institution maintained interested rates at an all time record low, showing that the Nordic nation still needs the support from the government to expand its faltering economy.

Analysts suggest that today’s movement was mainly fueled by a risk averse day in stocks, as the dollar declined several days in a row, today corrections are profit taking are being made by some investors, leaving a breather for the greenback. It is unlikely that the dollar will revert its losing trend on the mid-term, as the Federal Reserve has expressed no concerns regarding a weaker currency.

EUR/USD traded at 1.4989 as of 11:59 GMT after touching 1.5046 yesterday. AUD/USD traded at 0.9229 from 0.9328.

If you want to comment on the U.S. dollar’s recent action or have any questions regarding this currency, please, feel free to reply below.

USD Slumps on Blockbuster JPM Earnings

The beleaguered dollar found no reprieve in the Wednesday session, extending its losses to fresh 14-month lows against the euro and Australian dollar to 1.4934 and 0.9156, respectively. A shift to riskier assets was triggered by a stronger than expected earnings report from JP Morgan Chase, prompting advances in the US equity bourses with the Dow Jones, Nasdaq and S&P 500 all gaining by more than 1.2% by afternoon trading. The Dow Jones edged higher toward the psychologically key 10,000-level, briefly breaching above it on an intra-day basis for the first time in a year.

The economic data released earlier in the session were largely mixed, consisting of retail sales, import prices, export prices and business inventories. The headline retail sales figure was better than estimated, albeit still declining by 1.5% for September versus a 2.7% from August. The excluding automobiles retail sales figure beat consensus estimates also, posting an increase of 0.5%, better than calls for a 0.2% increase from 1.1% a month earlier. The August business inventories figure revealed a 1.5% drop from a 1.0% decline in July.

The minutes of the FOMC’s September meeting revealed that some policymakers felt increasing the scale of Fed’s asset purchases would improve the recovery, stressing the importance of ability to increase asset purchases if the economic outlook worsened. The Fed minutes said that policymakers judged costs of growth being weaker than anticipated could be relatively high while expecting inflation to remain subdued for some time amid substantial resource slack. The Fed also raised its economic projections for the second half of 2009 and subsequent years.

Greenback Slumps on Shift to Riskier Assets

The dollar’s respite proved short-lived as traders resumed selling the currency in the Thursday session, pushing it to a fresh one-year low against the Australian dollar at 0.9088 and two-week low against the euro at 1.4816. The equity, commodity and energy markets were in lockstep as spot gold touch record high for its third consecutive session past the $1,055 per ounce level and crude oil edging back above the $70 per barrel level near $72. The major US equity bourses also climbed higher, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq advancing by nearly 1% in the afternoon session.

The economic data released earlier in the session saw weekly jobless claims improve to 521k from 551k a week prior and the August wholesale inventories slip by 1.3% from a 1.4% decline in the previous month. Speaking earlier today was Richmond Fed President Lacker reiterated that the economic outlook remains unchanged from the previous FOMC meeting, adding that the risk of sliding into a recession again in 2010 has diminished substantially. He also quelled speculation of impending rate hikes advising that the Fed should not tighten policy today.

Triodos to raise €90m for ethical lending

Triodos Bank has announced plans to issue €90 million of new shares.

Money raised from the shares will be used to provide loans to sustainable projects.

Set up in 1980, Netherlands-based Triodos provides loans to environmentally-friendly projects such as wind farms and organic agriculture.

Since the credit crunch, the company has seen an upsurge in interest in its sustainable approach to banking.

Customer numbers at the bank have increased by almost a fifth (18%) since January this year.

“If nothing else, the financial crisis has taught us that it pays to choose sustainable”, said chief executive Peter Blom.

Blom added that the money raised from the share issue will allow the bank to increase its lending.

“New capital will enable us to lend to even more to sustainable projects and companies”, he said.

“Our growth is faster than foreseen; we continue to thrive despite the financial crisis, and have no shortfall of capital.

“This year we have grown faster than ever before, with more than an 18% increase in our customer numbers since January 2009.”

Triodos has 12,000 shareholders, around half of whom are individual investors.

Triodos to raise €90m for ethical lending

Triodos Bank has announced plans to issue €90 million of new shares.

Money raised from the shares will be used to provide loans to sustainable projects.

Set up in 1980, Netherlands-based Triodos provides loans to environmentally-friendly projects such as wind farms and organic agriculture.

Since the credit crunch, the company has seen an upsurge in interest in its sustainable approach to banking.

Customer numbers at the bank have increased by almost a fifth (18%) since January this year.

“If nothing else, the financial crisis has taught us that it pays to choose sustainable”, said chief executive Peter Blom.

Blom added that the money raised from the share issue will allow the bank to increase its lending.

“New capital will enable us to lend to even more to sustainable projects and companies”, he said.

“Our growth is faster than foreseen; we continue to thrive despite the financial crisis, and have no shortfall of capital.

“This year we have grown faster than ever before, with more than an 18% increase in our customer numbers since January 2009.”

Triodos has 12,000 shareholders, around half of whom are individual investors.