ADRs End Mostly Higher; BT Trades Actively

International stocks trading in New York closed up on Tuesday.

The BNY Mellon index of American depositary receipts improved 0.28% to 130.89; the European index edged up 0.17% to 122.63; the Asian index increased 0.52% to 149.24; the Latin American index edged up 0.05% to 224.77; and the emerging markets index rose 0.82% to 263.89.

BT Group PLC (BT, BT.A.LN) was among the companies with ADRs that traded actively.

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (BABA) on Tuesday raised revenue projections for the year and said it would step up investments to expand its digital media and cloud businesses following strong third-quarter results. Alibaba runs China's most popular e-commerce websites Taobao and Tmall. ADRs rose 3% to $101.43.

One of Britain's oldest and best-known companies BT Group, parent company of British Telecommunications, on Tuesday said it had grossly underestimated the severity of an accounting scandal at its Italian business. BT said it would take a GBP530 million ($661 million) write-down, more than three times its previous estimate, for yearslong "improper" accounting practices and transactions in Italy. In addition, it cut financial projections, citing a deteriorating outlook for business from the British public sector and international corporations. ADRs, which set a 52-week-low on Tuesday, closed at $19.38, down 21% for the day.

HDFC Bank (HDB, 500180.BY), India's second-largest private lender, reported quarterly profit rose 15% while gross bad loans were at 1.05% of total advances, compared with 1.02% in the previous quarter. ADRs rose 4% to $66.64.

Rio Tinto PLC (RIO, RIO.LN), capitalizing on last year's sharp rally in commodity prices, sold a major piece of its coal business to a Chinese company for $2.45 billion, the biggest move yet in the British-Australian mining giant's move to shed its coal assets. ADRs set a 52-week-high on Tuesday before closing at $45.70, up 4% for the day.

Dutch health-technology company Royal Philips NV (PHG, PHIA.AE) is in talks with the Justice Department over its defibrillator business and said negotiations could result in a fine and have a "meaningful impact on the operations of this business." While the defibrillator business is relatively small, the issue adds to wider concerns of Philips' operations in the U.S., its most important market by sales. ADRs fell 2% to $29.35.

WPP PLC's (WPPGY, WPP.LN) global media investment arm GroupM said Tuesday it agreed to increase its holding in MediaCom India to become a majority stakeholder. ADRs rose 0.68% to $116.15.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 24, 2017 17:37 ET (22:37 GMT)

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