By Corrie Driebusch Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- International companies trading in New York traded slightly lower Thursday amid continued speculation over whether Greece may exit the euro zone. The Bank of New York index of ADRs slipped 0.2% to 113.24. Greece's leftist Syriza party, which opposes the country's austerity measures, maintained its lead over the conservative New Democracy party, according to the latest public opinion poll. Shares of some European banks shifted lower, with the National Bank of Greece SA (NBG, ETE.AT) losing 5.1% to $1.50, BNP Paribas SA (BNPQY, BNP.FR) tumbling 5.6% to $16.02, and Societe Generale SA (SCGLY, GLE.FR) declining 1.2% to $4.05. The Asian index declined 0.6% to 112.63 and the emerging index shed 0.6% to 259.88. The chief executives of four major Chinese solar-power equipment producers said at a press conference in Shanghai that they formed an alliance to fight Washington's allegations against Chinese solar-panel companies and fight efforts to impose tariffs on the industry, saying their industry is beneficial to the U.S. The newly created Solar Energy Promotion Alliance includes Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. (YGE), Suntech Power Holdings Co. (STP, K3ND.SG), Trina Solar Ltd. (TSL, K3KD.SG) and Canadian Solar Inc. (CSIQ). Still, shares of Yingli Green tumbled 6.1% to $2.63, Suntech's stock dropped 4.5% to $1.93. Shares of LDK Solar Co. (LDK) slumped 15% to $2.59. The Latin American index fell 0.5% to 302.13. Brazilian flat steel inventories fell to 1.018 million metric tons in April, 17% below the levels in the same month in 2011, steel distributors' association Sindisider said Wednesday. Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (SID, CSNA3.BR) fell 2% to $6.50. The European index edged up 0.04% to 104.67. Repsol YPF SA (REPYY, REP.MC) said Thursday that some of the areas it is exploring off the coast of Brazil contain more than more than a billion barrels of oil and gas, a development that highlights the potential of the operations there to drive Repsol's growth. Repsol YPF rose 1.7% to $17.28. Partially offsetting those gains was computer peripherals maker Logitech International SA (LOGI, LOGN.VX), whose shares fell 2.1% to $10.56. The company said it will cut its Swiss workforce by 16% as part of its restructuring program. -By Corrie Driebusch, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2143; corrie.driebusch@dowjones.com
