Peru Stock Indexes End Sharply Higher; Sol Strengthens

Peru Stock Indexes End Sharply Higher; Sol Strengthens

LIMA (Dow Jones)--The Lima Stock Exchange's main indexes ended sharply higher Tuesday, lifted by strength on Wall Street and by rising metals prices.

The Lima Stock Exchange's general index increased 3.46% to end at 12,871.97. The selective blue-chip index rose 3.93% to finish at 21,602.50.

The mining subindex gained 2.15%.

Base metals miner Southern Copper Corp. (PCU) increased 0.3% to end at $19.86, while copper miner Sociedad Minera Cerro Verde SAA (CVERDEC1.VL) rose 1.2% to end at $17.00 as copper prices gained.

Financial holding company Credicorp Ltd. (BAP), which owns Peru's largest bank, increased 2.6% to end at $54.50.

Steelmaker Siderurgica del Peru SAA (SIDERC1.VL), or Siderperu, increased 6.5% to end at 1.47 soles ($0.49) in heavy volume.

The sol ended slightly stronger, at PEN3.007 per U.S. dollar. The sol closed the previous session at PEN3.009 per U.S. dollar.

The Central Reserve Bank of Peru didn't intervene in the foreign exchange market.

Over the last 12 month period, the sol has weakened by 5.47% against the U.S. dollar, but has gained 4.11% so far this year against the greenback.

-By Robert Kozak, Dow Jones Newswires; 51-1-99927 7269; peru@dowjones.com -0-

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May 26, 2009 16:47 ET (20:47 GMT)