Argentine Stocks: Grupo Galicia, Petrobras and Tenaris Gain

The following companies had unusual price changes in Argentine trading. Stock symbols are in parentheses and share prices are as of the close in Buenos Aires.

The Merval (MERVAL) Index rose 4.3 percent to 2,568.2. The market was closed Dec. 30 and Jan. 2.

Grupo Financiero Galicia SA (GGAL) surged 7.7 percent to 3.08 pesos, posting the steepest gain in 21 weeks. Argentina’s largest consumer lender jumped today after the Instituto Argentino de Mercado de Capitales, which calculates the Merval index, said that Galicia would increase its weighting in the benchmark to 23 percent from 13 percent.

Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PETR4) rose 5.9 percent to 60.45 pesos, its largest increase since May 2010. Brazil’s state- controlled oil company declared an oil and gas deposit in Brazil’s Guara area commercially viable, according to a statement sent yesterday to the country’s National Petroleum Agency.

Tenaris SA (TEN) increased 8.1 percent to 93.7 pesos for the biggest gain in five weeks. The world’s largest producer of seamless steel tubes used in the oil industry rose in line with oil prices as manufacturing activity expanded in China and India.

To contact the reporter on this story: Eduardo Thomson in Santiago at ethomson1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: David Papadopoulos at papadopoulos@bloomberg.net