ADR Shares End Higher as Fed Maintains Stimulus

   By Anna Prior 
 

International companies trading in New York closed sharply higher Wednesday as the Federal Reserve surprised investors by announcing that its stimulus measures would remain unchanged.

The Bank of New York index of ADRs jumped 2.5% to 147.36.

The Federal Open Market Committee said in its policy-setting statement that it would continue to buy $85 billion in bonds each month, with officials saying that they wanted to see more evidence that the economy can sustain improvement before scaling back the central bank's bond purchases. Investors had expected the Fed to pare its bond-buying programs by between $10 billion and $15 billion at this meeting.

The European index rose 2.2% to 141.38.

Shares of Nokia Corp. (NOK, NOK1V.HE) climbed after Credit Suisse lifted its recommendation on the Finnish firm to outperform from neutral. "We believe Nokia's transformative deal with Microsoft allows it to drive significant value creation from its vast patent portfolio," the analysts said. Shares rose 7% to $6.71.

Siemens AG (SI, SIE.XE), the German electronics giant, unveiled a broad realignment of its top management on Wednesday with the appointment of a new chief finance officer, streamlining of the management board, and a new appointment to the company's nonexecutive supervisory board. Shares rose 3.6% to $122.41.

The Asian index climbed 2.6% to 150.37.

Camelot Information Systems Inc. (CIS) has agreed to be taken private by a group led by its chairman and chief executive for $98.2 million, an increased offer from the group's initial proposal in March. The buyout offer of $2.05 per American depositary share represents a 37% premium over Camelot's closing price on March 11, the last trading day prior to the group's initial going-private proposal. The company offers enterprise application services and financial industry information technology services in China. Shares climbed 5.5% to $1.91.

Prima Biomed Ltd.'s (PBMD, PRR.AU) investigational vaccine therapy to treat a type of ovarian cancer showed no observed difference when compared with results in a control arm in an early-stage study, resulting in the Australian company temporarily suspending enrollment in another study. Shares tumbled 31% to $1.61.

The Latin American index surged 4.4% to 302.93 and the emerging markets index rose 3.1% to 282.91.

South African gold-mining companies surged as gold futures jumped in response to the Fed's surprise decision to keep stimulus efforts in place. Harmony Gold Mining Co. (HMY, HAR.JO) rose 14% to $4.12, while Gold Fields Ltd. (GFI, GFI.JO) climbed 11% to $5.23, Drdgold Ltd. (DRD, DRD.JO) jumped 11% to $6.39, and AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (AU, ANG.JO) added 8.9% to $14.30.

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