The yield on the benchmark Colombian local

The yield on the benchmark Colombian local sovereign debt maturing 2020 rose after the consumer price index increased by a higher-than-expected rate in February.   The yield on the benchmark 2020 domestic paper ended at 9.660% Friday, up from 9.530% on Thursday, with pension funds and large banks selling TES bonds.   Inflation was 0.84% in February, propelled by increased educational costs. The figure was higher than the median average of 0.74% derived from a poll of  seven analysts conducted by Dow Jones Newswires.   "What is really worrisome is that core inflation is not declining at the pace we expected," said Camilo Arenas, an analyst at local brokerage Serfinco.   Inflation over the 12 months through February, however, fell to 6.47%, down from 7.18% in January.   February's consumer price index may force the central bank to cut rates by 0.25 percentage point during its next monetary meeting in late March and not 0.50 percentage point as some expected, said Laura Cabrera, analyst at local brokerage Acciones de Colombia.   "We initially expected the central bank would cut rates by 50 basis points but with this data we believe it will ease its monetary policy by just 25 basis points," she added.   On February, the central bank cut rates by a higher-than-expected one percentage point to 8%.   In the equity market, the benchmark IGBC stock index rose 0.7% to 7,695.84 points in part on the gain by state-controlled oil company Ecopetrol (ECOPETROL.BO).   Ecopetrol rose 1% to COP2,075 as oil futures rose to close $2.05 higher at $45.65 a barrel, a level not seen since January 27. Ecopetrol traded about half of Friday's total volume in the Colombian stock exchange.   On the foreign exchange market, the peso appreciated to COP2,556 against the dollar, from COP2,568,20 Thursday.   The peso gained as corporations sold dollars to take advantage of the  recent peso weakening, said Alexander Cardenas, head of research at local brokerage Acciones y Valores. On Tuesday, the peso ended above the COP2,600 threshold for the first time since June 2006.