Chocolates, Cresud, Molinos, Tam, Vitro: Latin Equity Preview

By [bn:PRSN=1] William Freebairn [] and Paulo Winterstein

Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) -- The following companies may have unusual price changes today in Latin America trading. Stock symbols are in parentheses, and share prices are from the previous close. Preferred shares are usually the most-traded class of stock in Brazil.

The MSCI Latin America Index fell 1.7 percent Aug. 29 to 3,965.62.

Argentina

Cresud SACIF y A (CRES AF) and Molinos Rio de la Plata SA (MOLI AF): Argentine truckers blocked grain crushers and ports to protest for better wages and social security benefits, the country's main cereal exchange said Aug. 29. Cresud, which farms soybeans and other crops, fell 0.3 percent to 3.37 pesos. Molinos, an exporter of soybean oil, declined 1.4 percent to 7.57 pesos.

Brazil

Tam SA (TAMM4 BS): Brazil's largest airline agreed to allow its two largest shareholders to convert about 9.6 million common, voting shares into an equal number of preferred, non- voting shares, the company said in a statement on Brazil's stock-regulator's Web site Aug. 29. TAM preferred shares rose 0.1 percent to 32.32 reais.

Chile

Cintac SA (CINTAC CC): The Chilean steel processor plans to sell as much as $60.8 million in bonds. The bonds will have a maturity of as long as 10 years, the company said in a filing with regulators Aug. 29. Cintac fell 0.8 percent to 255 pesos.

Colombia

Grupo Nacional de Chocolates SA (CHOCOLA CB): Colombia's biggest food company will begin steps to start an American depositary receipt program to give international investors access to its shares, the company said in a statement Aug. 29. Chocolates rose 3.9 percent to 16,500 pesos.

Mexico

Vitro SAB (VITROA MM) and Grupo Iusacell SAB (CEL* MM): Mexico's largest glassmaker and its third-largest mobile-phone company were among stocks that may be traded short or by brokers for their own accounts starting today. The Mexican stock exchange added 13 companies to a list of shares with higher liquidity that can by law be traded short, it said in a statement e-mailed Aug. 29. Vitro gained 2 percent to 12.67 pesos. Iusacell advanced 3.2 percent to 100 pesos.

To contact the reporter on this story: William Freebairn in Mexico City at wfreebairn@bloomberg.net; Paulo Winterstein in Sao Paulo at pwinterstein@bloomberg.net.