Argentina Reshuffles Merval; Brings In Comercial Del Plata

The composition of Argentina's Merval Index of leading shares was reweighted on Thursday, bringing in energy, rail, real-estate and tourism holding company Sociedad Comercial del Plata SA (CVVIF, COME.BA) based on trading volume in the company over the past quarter.

Comercial del Plata's shares jumped 3.2% to 0.82 pesos ($0.20) Thursday ahead of its first day in the Merval Index. Companies entering the index often get a boost at the start of a quarter as investors snap up shares to rebalance their Merval-linked portfolios. The company will make up 1.8% of the Merval weighting starting Friday.

Banking group Grupo Financiero Galicia (GGAL, GGAL.BA) remained the most heavily weighted company on in the index at, 15.7%, down from 17.4% during the second quarter.

Locally traded shares of Brazilian oil company Petroleo Brasileiro (PBR, PETR4.BR), or Petrobras, will carry a 10.3% weighting, followed by Telecom Argentina (TEO, TECO2.BA) with 9.8% and steel tube manufacturer Tenaris (TS, TEN.MI) at 9.1%.

None of the companies currently listed on the Merval were dropped from the index.

-By Shane Romig, Dow Jones Newswires; 54-11-4103-6738; [e-mail]