Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Colombia’s peso fell the most in a week on concern a deepening global recession will further erode demand for Latin America’s commodity exports.

The currency declined as much as 1.4 percent after a U.S. report showed private employers cut more jobs than economists forecast in December. Companies in the U.S. eliminated an estimated 693,000 jobs, the most since records began in 2001.

“International markets are negative following the cut in U.S. jobs, which was pretty bad,” said Carlota Rosado, an analyst at Bogota-based brokerage Cia. de Profesionales de Bolsa. The peso is also hurt by a decline in oil prices, she said.

The peso weakened the most since Dec. 29, declining 1 percent to 2,213 per dollar at 2:50 p.m. New York time, from 2,191.5 yesterday, according to the Colombian foreign-exchange electronic transactions system, known as SET-FX.

Oil, Colombia’s biggest export, fell 12 percent to $42.74 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Oil is down 55 percent from a year ago.

The yield on the nation’s benchmark 11 percent bonds due in July 2020 declined three basis points, or 0.03 percentage point, to 10.17 percent, according to Colombia’s stock exchange. The bonds’ price rose 0.172 centavo to 105.395 centavos per peso.

Argentine Peso

Argentina’s peso was little changed at 3.4533 per dollar from 3.4528 yesterday. Trading remains thin this year due to increased foreign exchange controls and inspections the government launched last year, said Daniel Bou Kahir, a currency trader with Banco la Pampa in Buenos Aires.

The peso has devalued slowly, gaining on only six of the past trading 38 days. Bou Kahir expects the peso to gradually slide to 4 per dollar by the end of the year. “If there are problems with financing or making a bond payment, anything could happen,” he said.

The Argentine government said yesterday that it faces a financing gap of 47.5 billion pesos ($13.8 billion) this year.

The yield on Argentina’s inflation-linked peso bonds due in December 2033 fell five basis points to 16.74 percent, according to Citigroup Inc.’s local unit.

In Chile, the peso was little changed at 630.35 per U.S. dollar, from 630.5 yesterday. The yield for a basket of five-year peso bonds in inflation-linked currency units, called unidades de fomento, rose eight basis points to 3.54 percent, according to Bloomberg composite prices.

Peru Intervention

Peru’s sol declined 0.3 percent to 3.1432 per dollar, from 3.1355 yesterday. The central bank said it bought $21 million worth of soles in the open market at a rate of 3.1422 per dollar.

The yield on Peru’s 8.6 percent sol-denominated bond due in August 2017 fell 19 basis points to 7.11 percent, according to the local unit of Citigroup Inc.

The Chilean peso and Peruvian sol “remain subject to the performance of commodities and should underperform other currencies in” Latin America, Merrill Lynch & Co strategists said in a research note today. Other Latin American currencies, most notably the Mexican peso and Brazilian real, are poised to outperform those in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa during the first half of the year, the strategists said.

Venezuela’s bolivar was unchanged at 5.55 per dollar in unregulated trading, traders said. Venezuela pegs the currency at an official exchange rate of 2.15 per dollar under restrictions imposed in 2003. People turn to the unregulated market when they can’t get dollars at the official rate.

By Andrea Jaramillo and Drew Benson