June 10 (Bloomberg) -- Colombia’s peso climbed to its strongest level against the dollar in almost nine months as the price of oil, the nation’s top export, rose above $71 a barrel.

The peso gained 0.1 percent to 2,053.73 per dollar at 3:30 p.m. New York time, from 2,055.18 yesterday. It touched 2,033.35, its strongest since Sept. 22.

“The gain in commodities and the generalized dollar weakness are leading to a rebalancing of risk, as investors drop the dollar and seek other currencies including the peso,” said Julian Ramirez, head analyst at Bogota-based brokerage Proyectar Valores SA.

Crude oil for July delivery touched $71.79 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest since October, after a government report showed that U.S. crude and fuel supplies unexpectedly fell. Prices are up 60 percent this year.

Ramirez forecasts the peso will strengthen to 1,800 “around” September. The currency has jumped 7.3 percent in the past month, compared with a 5.8 percent gain in the Brazilian real and a 4.1 percent drop in the Mexican peso.

Finance Minister Oscar Ivan Zuluaga was quoted as saying in an interview published June 8 by La Republica newspaper that the nation should allow the currency to float freely and that carrying out “massive interventions” is picking a futile fight with the market.

‘Outperform’

“While other countries in the region have been intervening directly in the market, in Colombia we haven’t had any signal that is going to happen,” said Ramirez. “That’s helping the peso outperform.”

The yield on the country’s 11 percent bonds due in July 2020 rose nine basis points, or 0.09 percentage point, to 9.45 percent. The price declined 0.637 centavo to 110.339 centavos per peso, according to Colombia’s stock exchange.

The yield on the benchmark bond has jumped 64 basis points in the past month. Ramirez predicts the yield will drop to 8.90 percent by the end of June amid expectations inflation will slow and the central bank will lower the overnight lending rate at its June 19 meeting. He forecasts policy makers this month will cut the key rate a half percentage point to 4.5 percent.