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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