ADRs End Mosly Lower; Brazilian Companies Trade Actively

International stocks trading in New York closed mostly lower on Monday.

The BNY Mellon index of American depositary receipts eased 0.2% to 121.15. The European index improved 0.3% to 119.27, the Asian index declined 0.9% to 129.23, the Latin American index fell 3.2% to 171.97 and the emerging-markets index declined 1.5% to 229.21.

Brazilian companies were among the companies with ADRs that traded actively.

A federal judge in New Orleans has granted final approval to an estimated $20 billion settlement, resolving years of litigation over the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the Associated Press reported Monday. The settlement had been announced in July. ADRs of BP PLC (BP, BP.LN) closed up 0.03% at $29.58.

ADRs of Brazilian companies fell on Monday as economists again lowered their outlook on the economic performance for this year and next year of Brazil, Latin America's largest economy. Brazil's gross domestic product is expected to shrink 3.73% this year, according to a weekly central-bank survey of 100 economists, compared with expectations a week ago for a 3.66% contraction. This marked the 11th consecutive downward revision. Among the company's whose ADRs fell were Braskem SA (BAK, BRKMS.BR), down 10% to $12.25; Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA (GOL, GOLL4.BR), down 8% to $6.90; and Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PBR, PETR3.BR, PETR4.BR), down 10% to $5.30.

Statoil's (STO, STL.OS) portfolio of projects that haven't yet been approved have a break-even cost of $40 of oil equivalent, down from $70 in 2013, Irene Rummelhoff, the company's executive vice president of new energy solutions, said Monday at the Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit in New York. The company plans to cut costs by $2.5 billion this year, she said. ADRs closed 2.5% lower at $14.80.

Thyssenkrupp AG is considering a complete takeover of its beleaguered Brazilian steel plant, according to a person familiar with the matter. The German industrial conglomerate could soon acquire Brazilian mining company Vale SA's (VALE, VALE3.BR, VALE5.BR, VALE5.FR) 27% stake in the plant, known as CSA, for a symbolic price, the person said. Reuters late last week reported that negotiations between the two companies were in their final stages, citing a person familiar with the matter. Vale's ADRs closed 6% lower at $4.06.

Write to Maria Armental at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 04, 2016 17:41 ET (21:41 GMT)

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