Colombia, Mexico: Latin America Bond and Currency Preview

By Jamie McGee

Aug. 18 (Bloomberg) -- The following events and economic reports may influence trading in Latin American local bonds and currencies today. Bond yields and exchange rates are from a previous session.

Colombia: The central bank left borrowing costs unchanged as policy makers bet a slowing economy and 16 interest rate increases in the past 28 months are enough to stem inflation.

Policy makers held the overnight interbank rate at a seven- year high of 10 percent, matching the forecast of 35 of 39 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Four analysts expected a quarter-point increase to 10.25 percent.

The peso fell 0.6 percent to 1,875 per U.S. dollar, according to the Colombian foreign-exchange electronic transactions system, known as SET-FX.

The yield on Colombia's benchmark 11 percent bond due July 2020 fell 22 basis points, or 0.22 percentage point, to 11.63 percent, according to Colombia's stock exchange.

Mexico: Industrial production rose 0.2 percent in June from the year-earlier period after dropping 1.2 percent in May, according to the median estimate of 17 economists in a Bloomberg survey.

The National Institute of Statistics is scheduled to releases the data at 3:30 p.m. New York time.

The peso fell 0.2 percent to 10.1866 per dollar.

The yield on Mexico's benchmark 10 percent bonds due December 2024 fell 21 basis points to 8.6 percent, according to Banco Santander SA.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jamie McGee in New York at jmcgee8@bloomberg.net