Colombian stocks climbed at the start of Wednesday's trading session while the peso strengthened sharply against the dollar after a group of central banks announced a concerted effort to make dollar funding cheaper for European banks.

The Colcap index, a benchmark for Colombia's publicly traded stocks, rose 1.7% to 1,551.8 points. Pacific Rubiales Energy (PRE.T, PEGFF), a Toronto-based oil firm and Colombia's largest private crude producer, climbed 3.58% to COP39,880.

Ecopetrol SA (EC, ECOPETROL.BO), the state-run oil firm, rose 0.62% to 4,070 Colombian pesos.

The U.S. Federal Reserve, the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan, the European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank moved Wednesday to make dollar funding cheaper for European banks that hold dollar-denominated securities or make U.S. dollar loans.

The Colombian peso reacted by strengthening sharply against the dollar. The peso strengthened to COP1,948 to the dollar from 1,962.4 a day earlier.