ADR Shares End Lower; Sinopec Shares Active

International stocks trading in New York closed lower Wednesday, with the Bank of New York index of American depositary receipts falling 0.6% to 149.59. The European index dropped 0.6% to 150.08, the Asian index shed 0.5% to 143.85, the Latin American index declined 0.4% to 256.31 and the emerging-markets index slipped 0.2% to 261.74. Companies with shares that actively traded included China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (SNP, 0386.HK, 600028.SH).

China Petroleum & Chemical, known as Sinopec Corp., plans to open up its domestic marketing and distribution operations to outside investors, in a nod to Beijing's latest efforts to reform state-owned companies and encourage a mixed-ownership economy. Sinopec, China's largest oil-refining company, however, stopped short of fully opening up its gasoline stations and other distribution lines to third parties by capping the amount of outside investment at 30%, highlighting the gradual pace of such reforms. Still, Sinopec shares rose 8.4% to $83.51.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (RBS, RBS.LN) said Wednesday it is selling parts of its structured retail investor products and equity derivatives businesses, as well as associated market-making activities, to BNP Paribas SA (BNPQY, BNP.FR) for an undisclosed sum. The company said the sale price wasn't a significant amount but that the deal was intended to reduce risk for the bank, which is 81% owned by the government. Separately, the company also on Wednesday agreed to pay $275 million to settle a class-action suit that alleged the state-controlled bank misled investors who bought mortgage-backed securities. Shares fell 1% to $11.92.

Vodafone Group PLC (VOD, VOD.LN) hit back Wednesday after the Indian government criticized the cellphone giant amid scrapped talks to resolved a long-standing $2 billion tax dispute. Vodafone said it had reached out for a resolution, and "has sought to engage directly with the Indian government to see if an outcome acceptable to both parties could be achieved." Separately, the company said it will get 1.27 billion Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) shares as part of the consideration agreed under the deal to share its interest in the Verizon Wireless joint venture. Vodafone shares rose 0.7% to $37.33.

Japanese prosecutors raided the Tokyo office of Novartis AG (NVS, NOVN.VX) on Wednesday as part of a criminal investigation into whether a unit of the Swiss drug giant violated the law by releasing misleading advertising for one of its drugs. Novartis shares fell 1.2% to $81.76.

Write to Anna Prior at [e-mail]

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