International stocks trading in New York closed higher on
Wednesday, with the Bank of New York index of American depositary
receipts adding 0.8% to 153.77. The European index climbed 0.9% to
154.44, the Asian index added 0.8% to 142.84, the Latin American
index rose 0.4% to 288.87 and the emerging markets index added 0.7%
to 284.71. Among the companies with shares that actively traded
were AstraZeneca PLC (AZN, AZN.LN).
AstraZeneca's sixth-largest investor, Legal & General Group
PLC, is urging the U.K. drug giant's board to reverse its rejection
of a $120 billion takeover offer from Pfizer Inc. (PFE) and engage
in talks, according to The Wall Street Journal, which cited two
people familiar with the situation. AstraZeneca shares rose 2% to
$73.67.
The new chairman and chief executive of Mexican cement company
Cemex SAB (CX, CEMEX.MX) said Tuesday the company's top priority is
to recover the company's investment-grade rating, while not ruling
out the possibility of making acquisitions. Shares rose 0.6% to
$12.54.
BP PLC (BP, BP.LN) said it plans to seek a U.S. Supreme Court
review of a lower court's rejection of the oil company's effort to
stop Gulf Coast businesses from collecting payouts from the
Deepwater Horizon settlement fund, even when they can't directly
trace their losses to the 2010 oil spill. Shares rose 1.1% to
$51.47.
Write to Anna Prior at anna.prior@wsj.com
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