ADR Shares End Mixed; ArcelorMittal, Alcatel-Lucent Shares Active

International stocks trading in New York closed mixed on Friday, with the Bank of New York index of American depositary receipts falling 0.4% to 153.63. The European index dropped 0.6% to 154.39, the Asian index rose 0.3% to 141.93, the Latin American index slipped 0.6% to 291.83 and the emerging markets index was essentially flat at 281.2. Among the companies with shares that actively traded were ArcelorMittal (MT, MT.FR, MT.AE) and Alcatel-Lucent SA (ALU, ALU.FR).

ArcelorMittal posted a loss Friday, its seventh straight quarterly, blaming in large part higher natural-gas prices and the harsh winter in the U.S., which delayed shipments. The world's biggest steelmaker said demand is finally firming in Europe but falling in the former Soviet Union because of the crisis in Ukraine, where it owns one of the world's largest steelmaking complexes. It reduced slightly its estimate for global demand. Shares fell 3.8% to $15.73.

Network-equipment company Alcatel-Lucent narrowed its loss in the first quarter, after the company managed to reduce costs and boost growth at its Internet-routing division. Still, shares of the Franco-American maker of everything from submarine cables to wireless-network gear fell 4.2% to $3.85.

China will give its state-controlled telecommunications giants greater freedom to set their own prices for phone, mobile and other services, in its latest effort to bring more market principles to its stodgy government-run companies. Still, shares of China Mobile Ltd. (CHL, K3PD.SG, 0941.HK) edged down 0.1% to $48.16, China Telecom Corp. (CHA, 0728.HK, K3ED.SG) declined 2% to $52.65 and China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. (CHU, K3ID.SG, 0762.HK) dropped 2.6% to $15.84.

Telefonica SA (TEF, TEF.MC) said that first-quarter net profit fell 23%, hit by exchange rate turmoil in Latin America and falling revenue in Spain and Germany. Shares of the Spanish company--and Europe's second-largest telecommunications firm--fell 2.5% to $16.12.

The chief executive of WPP PLC (WPPGY, WPP.LN), the world's biggest advertising firm, said the proposed merger between advertising agencies Omnicom Group Inc. (OMC) and Publicis Group SA (PUBGY, PUB.FR) was "driven by ego issues" and a desire to "dislodge WPP." The $35 billion deal between Omnicom and Publicis unraveled late Thursday. WPP shares declined 0.7% to $107.01.

The chairman of Credit Suisse AG (CS, CSGN.VX) assured shareholders the bank was doing everything possible to resolve an outstanding tax issues with the U.S. but offered little insight into how or when the problem would be put to rest. Shares fell 1.4% to $30.53.

Write to Anna Prior at [e-mail]

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