International stocks trading in New York closed mixed on Thursday. The BNY Mellon index of American depositary receipts edged down 0.2% to 147.23. The European index fell 0.4% to 144.91; the Asian index improved 0.39% to 153.81; the Latin American index fell 0.32% to 226.46 and the emerging-markets index eased 0.06% to 269.92. Among the companies with shares that actively traded was Reed Elsevier PLC (RUK, REL.LN).

Zeinal Bava, the former head of Portugal Telecom SGPS SA (PT, PTC.LB), told a parliamentary commission Thursday that he knew nothing about a 900 million-euro (about $1 billion) investment the company made into the collapsed Espirito Santo group that hit the telecom company hard. Mr. Bava's statement, his first public appearance since leaving the chief executive post in Brazilian telecom giant Oi SA (OIBR, OIBRC, OIBR4.BR) in October, contradicts a PricewaterhouseCoopers report released last month. The report laid out a chain of events leading to the investment, including a meeting between executives from Portugal Telecom and Banco Espirito Santo SA, where Mr. Bava was cited as a knowing party. Portugal Telecom's shares closed nearly 4% down at 78 cents.

Anglo-Dutch publishing and exhibitions company Reed Elsevier on Thursday reported a decline in full-year net profit and revenue but said revenue was higher stripping out the impact of events that are not held every year. Shares fell 5% to $69.73.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (RBS, RBS.LN) on Thursday said it would spend billions of pounds to dismantle its global investment bank--including pulling back sharply in the U.S.--as it announced its seventh consecutive annual loss. Shares fell nearly 5% to $11.83.

Brazilian mining giant Vale SA (VALE3.BR, VALE5.BR, VALE5.FR) reported a net loss in the fourth quarter as iron-ore prices fell by nearly half, the local currency weakened and impairment charges continued to pile up. Shares fell nearly 5% to $7.34.

Write to Maria Armental at maria.armental@wsj.com

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