ADRs End Higher; Kazia Therapeutics, BRF Trade Actively

International stocks trading in New York closed higher Friday.

The BNY Mellon index of American depositary receipts rose 1.3% to 156.65. The European index increased 1.2% to 141.59. The Asian index rose 1.7% to 189.92. The Latin American index increased 0.7% to 281.28. And the emerging-markets index rose 1.6% to 351.89.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (RBS), BRF SA (BRFS) and Kazia Therapeutics Ltd. (KZIA) were among those with ADRs that traded actively.

Royal Bank of Scotland released its fourth-quarter results Friday, posting a fourth-quarter operating loss of 583 million pounds ($811.5 million), compared with a GBP4.06 billion loss in the same period in 2016. ADRs of the bank fell 3.8% to $7.64.

BRF said Friday its revenue fell 0.8% in 2017 from the prior year and that impacts from an investigation dubbed "Weak Flesh" led by Brazilian authorities also cut into results. ADRs fell 8% to $8.73.

Kazia Therapeutics, an Australian cancer-focused drug company, said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted Orphan Drug Designation to its investigational new drug, GDC-0084, for the treatment of glioblastoma multiforme, the most common form of brain cancer. ADRs jumped 7.9% to $5.38.

The U.K. communications regulator published Friday a set of draft measures aimed at increasing investment in fiber broadband networks, and eased its price-control proposal on how much BT Group PLC (BT.A.LN) should charge rival providers for using its physical infrastructure. The Office of Communications, or Ofcom, said it would set a monthly cap for BT network division Openreach's basic superfast broadband service of GBP11.92 ($16.60) by 2021. In March 2017, Ofcom had proposed setting that price at GBP11.23. ADRs of BT rose 6.2% to $17.25.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 23, 2018 17:40 ET (22:40 GMT)

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