Colombian Stock Movers: Cementos Argos, Petrominerales, Nutresa

The following companies had unusual price changes in Bogota trading. Stock symbols are in parentheses, and prices are as of the close.

The IGBC Index (IGBC) rose 0.6 percent to 15,215.78 and was up 1.2 percent for the month. The Colcap Index (COLCAP) increased 0.9 percent to 1,785.66, extending its April gain to 2.4 percent. The IGBC index has risen 20 percent this year.

Petrominerales Ltd. (PMG) , a Calgary-based oil company that operates in the Andean region, advanced 2.8 percent to 25,700 pesos, paring its drop in April to 23 percent, the worst performance on the IGBC. The company’s Canadian-traded shares were raised to market perform from underperform at Raymond James Ltd. by analysts led by Rafi Khouri. “Markets have tended to be overaggressive in correcting for exploration-related news,” they wrote. “Investors may now be discounting a lower probability of exploration success than we are.”

Cementos Argos SA (CEMARGOS) , the country’s biggest cement maker, fell 0.8 percent to 12,200 pesos. Colombia’s financial regulator approved Cementos Argos’s spinoff of assets that aren’t related to cement production, including portfolio investments, real estate and port assets, to owner Inversiones Argos, the company said in a filing April 27. “Uncertainty about the asset spinoff’s effect on the price of the shares is a source of risk for investors,” Valores Bancolombia SA analyst Diego Buitrago wrote in a research note today.

Grupo Nutresa SA (NUTRESA) , Colombia’s largest food company, gained 0.1 percent to 21,620 pesos. Nutresa said first- quarter net income increased 3.4 percent from the prior year to 59.6 billion pesos ($34 million) in a regulatory filing.

To contact the reporter on this story: Christine Jenkins in New York at cjenkins28@bloomberg.net

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