International stocks trading in New York closed lower on Wednesday.

The BNY Mellon index of American depositary receipts fell 1% to 128.41. The European index decreased 0.84% to 128.33, the Asian index dropped 1.1% to 138.77, the Latin American index fell 2.5% to 146.72 and the emerging markets index declined 1.8% to 216.51.

Oil majors were among the companies with ADRs that traded actively.

Oil prices tumbled Wednesday as data showed an unexpected increase in U.S. crude supplies. Diesel futures dropped to the lowest level since 2004 as U.S. stockpiles of distillates, a category that includes diesel fuel and heating oil, rose more than expected. A global glut of crude has weighed on the market for more than a year. Among oil majors with ADRs, BP PLC (BP, BP.LN) fell 1.8% to $31.31, China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (SNP, 0386.HK) dropped 2.1% to $60.04 and Total SA (TOT, FP.FR) declined 1.5% to $45.16.

Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. (RDY, 500124.BY) relaunched its popular heartburn remedy in a new color Wednesday after a court agreed with AstraZeneca PLC's (AZN, AZN.LN) objections to the old one. The Hyderabad company, India's second-largest drugmaker by sales, changed its generic version of the U.K. drugmaker's Nexium from two-tone purple to two-tone blue. London-based AstraZeneca, which markets Nexium as "the purple pill" and sells it through a domain called purplepill.com, had claimed the old hue infringed on its trademarks. Dr. Reddy's ADRs fell 1% to $46.29 and AstraZeneca edged up three cents to $34.49.

China Telecom Corp. (CHA, 0728.HK, K3ED.SG) said Chairman and Chief Executive Chang Xiaobing has resigned days after the country's antigraft watchdog said it had detained him, one in a series of moves against executives at the top of state-owned enterprises. Mr. Chang, formerly chairman of China Unicom Ltd. (CHU, 0762.HK, K3ID.SG), had assumed the top post at China Telecom in August. ADRs of China Telecom fell 1.4% to $46.61 and China Unicom decreased 1.6% to $12.09.

Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSA, RDSA.LN) on Wednesday said one of Ireland's largest-ever energy projects is now producing natural gas, following nearly two decades of development. Shell and its partners on Tuesday overcame the final hurdle to pumping from the Corrib gas field when Irish regulators gave them final consent to bring the offshore gas to consumers via pipeline to an inland terminal. Shell ADRs fell 1.1% to $45.99.

Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 30, 2015 17:08 ET (22:08 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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