Colombia’s BVC Plunges Most in Four Years as IGBC Trading Slumps

Nov. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Bolsa de Valores de Colombia SA, the operator of the country’s main securities exchange, fell the most in four years as Colombia’s benchmark Index sank to a one- year low.

Shares of BVC declined 12 percent, the biggest drop since the stock began trading in June 2007, to a two-year low of 26.5 pesos in Bogota trading.

Colombia’s benchmark IGBC Index fell 2.5 percent to 12,151.08, the lowest since May 2010. Global stocks sank, dragging the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lower for a sixth straight day, as costs to insure European government debt rose to a record after a German bund auction fueled concern the debt crisis is worsening.

“People may be anticipating bad results due to lower trading volumes,” said Santiago Melo, analyst at Alianza Valores SA. “The company’s income is rooted in the volumes of operations.”

--Editors: Marie-France Han, Glenn J. Kalinoski

To contact the reporters on this story:j Blake Schmidt in Bogota at bschmidt16@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Papadopoulos at orpapadopoulos@bloomberg.net