[Foreign] Peru Stocks

The Pride of Inca Empire After looking at red hot Latin American countries such as Brazil and Mexico, let's take a look at another Latin American country south of the equator - Peru. The Spanish speaking country with population of 28 million not only is rich in History as it contains ancient ruins of Inca Empire but also has abundant mineral deposits such as gold and copper. With the world in high demand of the previous metals such as gold, silver and copper, Peru, similar to Brazil is getting attention from investors with its rich precious metals. In addition as Peru's economy grew 6 percent last year, the best perfornace since 1998 and would probably grow for another 5% this year, this is probably a great time to look at the Peru stock. Although the investors are still waiting as Peru is going to have the presidential election next month, after the election is over we should see buyers back as uncertainty of election clears.

Here are the Peruvian companies traded in the US stock exchanges:

• Credicorp Ltd. (BAP): the Lima, Peru based financial service company provides commercial banking services in Peru. This 117 year old company currently operates 309 branches. The company recently gave a bullish forecast seeing a stronger earning for 2006. In addition the company also recently reported a strong first-quarter earning with increase of 17.4% on strong loan growth. However the stock has been decling since the announcement as the investors are probably sitting on the sideline until the presidential election is over. Nevertheless the stock still has been doing well for the past 52 weeks rising from $18 last may to $27.05 on Friday, rising 50% for the year.
• Compania de Minas Buenaventura SA (BVN): the Lima, Peru based gold and silver mining company operates three mines and has interest in three other mining companies in Peru. The stock hasn't done well this month on negative news saying Peru is still not a friendly place for mining company due to instability despite rich minerals. In addition with gold price beginning to fall, the investors are staying away from any gold related stocks. The stock is back to where it was at half year ago at $25.24 per share.
• Peru Copper Inc. (CUP): the Vancouver, Canada based company involves in copper mining operations in Peru. The stock had been doing well for the past 52 weeks due increase in copper price. However the stock has been under pressure recently as metal price such as gold, silver and copper had topped out and were beginning to fall. As the result the stock has fall from 52 weeks high of $5.53 per share on May 10 down to $4.03 on Friday, May 19, dropping more than 20% in two weeks. Nevertheless the stock still has been doing well this year, gaining 35% so far in about five months and almost 150% since last May.