By Anna Prior
International companies trading in New York closed mixed
Wednesday as a soft jobs report in the U.S. added to concerns about
stalemate in Congress.
The Bank of New York index of ADRs edged up 0.2% to 145.08.
In the U.S, the private sector created 166,000 jobs in
September, below economists' forecasts for 178,000, according to
Automatic Data Processing and Moody's Analytics. There was also a
cut to August's job-growth figure, which was revised down to
159,000 from 176,000.
Meanwhile in Italy, recent political turmoil looked to be coming
to an end as former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said he would
support the current government coalition.
The Latin American index climbed 0.6% to 295.30 and the emerging
markets index increased 0.3% to 277.95.
Portugal Telecom SGPS SA (PT, PTC.LB) and its Brazilian
affiliate, Oi SA (OIBR, OIBR4.BR), will combine operations to form
a new Brazil-based company with more than 100 million subscribers.
PT already is one of several partial owners of Oi. A closer tie-up
was largely expected after former PT Chief Executive Zeinal Bava
moved to head up Oi in June. Oi shares rose 5.3% to $1.99, while
Portugal Telecom shares ended the day up 6.6% at $4.85.
The European index added 0.2% to 139.96.
A French criminal court ordered Ireland-based low-cost airline
RyanAir Holdings PLC (RYAAY, RYA.DB) to pay eight million euros
($10.9 million) in fines and damages for hiring its staff flying
from and to Marseille with Irish contracts, not French ones between
2006 and 2010. RyanAir on Wednesday also reported its September
traffic increased by 3% from the same month last year to 8.1
million passengers. Shares edged up 0.2% to $50.02.
Shares of Unilever PLC (UL, ULVR.LN) declined again, as UBS cut
the consumer-products giant to neutral from buy, citing slowing
demand in emerging markets on top of currency weakness. "Whilst
this does not invalidate the long-term structural EM growth story,
perhaps the market needs to revisit the growth algorithm one should
apply," said the investment bank. Shares fell 1% to $37.95.
The Asian index fell 0.1% to 146.61.
Chinese solar stocks added to declines, with the two sharpest
drops coming from China Sunergy Co. (CSUN), which saw it shares
fall 10% to $5.23, and LDK Solar Co. (LDK), which recorded a 7.4%
drop to $1.75.
However, Hong Kong-based Renren Inc. (RENN), a Chinese
social-media site, continued to post steep gains. According to
report from Barron's citing a Bloomberg report, the market is
speculating that Baidu Inc. (BIDU, K3SD.SG) may buy the rest of
Renren's Nuomi.com. Back in August, Baidu bought a 59% stake for
$160 million. Renren shares rose 7.7% to $3.92.
Write to Anna Prior at anna.prior@wsj.com