ADR Shares End Higher; AstraZeneca Shares Active

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.

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