ADRs End Higher; Unilever Rises

International stocks trading in New York closed higher on Thursday.

Unilever was among the companies with ADRs that traded actively.

The BNY Mellon index of American depositary receipts rose 1.83% to 133.95. The European index increased 1.75% to 135.10, the Asian index improved 2.22% to 139.11, the Latin American index rose 1.03% to 168.78 and the emerging markets index increased 1.83% to 224.80.

Anglo-Dutch consumer-products giant Unilever said its third-quarter revenue rose sharply as sales of ice cream jumped and the company logged strong growth in emerging markets. ADRs of Unilever PLC (UL, ULVR.LN) rose 4.3% to $44.96 and Unilever NV (UN, UNA.AE) rose 4.8% to $44.95.

Shareholders of Siliconware Precision Industries Co. (SPIL, 2325.TW)--known as SPIL--voted down Hon Hai Precision Industry Co.'s (2317.TW) plan to increase its stake in the Taiwan-based chip assembly firm and become SPIL's largest shareholder. Hon Hai--also known as Foxconn Technology Group--has been locked in a battle with Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc. (ASX, 2311.TW, 3355.HK), for control of SPIL, which is developing a key technology used in the latest iPhones and smartwatches. ADRs of SPIL rose 7.9% to $6.87. Advanced Semiconductor Engineering increased 9.1% to $5.89.

China's top three telecom carriers agreed to sell their telecom tower assets to a joint venture they formed last year and lease them back, part of efforts to overhaul China's state-controlled companies and reduce duplicate investments in the world's largest mobile market. The carriers--China Mobile Ltd. (CHL, 0941.HK, K3PD.SG), China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. (CHU, 0762.HK, K3ID.SG) and China Telecom Corp. (CHA, 0728.HK, K3ED.SG)--said the joint venture will improve network coverage and reduce spending for new towers. ADRs of China Mobile rose 1.7% to $61.01, China Unicom dropped 6.6% to $13.72 and China Telecom fell 1.7% to $53.46.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSM, 2330.TW) projected lower fourth-quarter revenue and cut its capital spending estimate for this year after reporting its first quarterly earnings decline since 2012. ADRs of the world's biggest contract chip maker fell 1.8% to $21.95.

Write to Tess Stynes at [e-mail]

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 15, 2015 17:56 ET (21:56 GMT)

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