ADRs End Lower; Major Oil Companies, Acorn International, and AstraZeneca Trade Actively

International stocks trading in New York closed lower on Friday.

The BNY Mellon index of American depositary receipts fell 0.8%, to 149.73. The European index decreased 0.9%, to 138.25. The Asian index went down 0.4%, to 179.86. The Latin American index dropped 1.3%, to 234.42. And the emerging-markets index decreased 0.2%, to 324.67.

Acorn International Inc. (ATV), AstraZeneca PLC (AZN) and Total SA (TOT) were among those with ADRs that traded actively.

China-based Acorn International said Friday it will pay a one-time cash dividend of $14.97 an ADR, which represents a payment of about $40 million. ADRs of Acorn rose 14.3%, to $28.60.

AstraZeneca PLC (AZN) said Friday that a phase 3 trial of its cancer drug Imfinzi had met one of its two primary endpoints in an interim analysis of data. The pharmaceutical major said that an analysis conducted by an independent data monitoring committee had found that Imfinzi had successfully improved in a statistically significant way the overall survival of patients with unresectable stage-three non-small cell lung cancer--NSCLC--who were being treated with the drug. Imfinzi is already approved in the U.S. and Canada for the treatment of patients with stage-three NSCLC who have not progressed following platinum-based chemoradiation therapy. The drug is under review in the EU and Japan, as well as other countries, with decisions expected in the second half of 2018. ADRs of AstraZeneca rose 0.4%, to $37.04.

Oil prices plunged Friday as Saudi Arabia and Russia neared a deal to increase oil production after more than a year of holding crude off the market. Friday's move wiped out three weeks of gains and was one of the biggest recent reversals in what has been a powerful rally--it was the U.S. benchmark's largest single day drop since July 2017. As a result, ADRs of major oil companies fell, including Total, down 2.9%, to $59.27; BP PLC (BP) decreased 3.1%, to $44.35; Eni SpA (E) dropped 3%, to $35.88; and Royal Dutch Shell (RDSB) fell 2.2%, to $71.10.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 25, 2018 18:06 ET (22:06 GMT)

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