ADR Shares Close Mixed Ahead Of Bernanke Speech
01/14/2013| 04:39pm US/Eastern
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By Anna Prior
International companies trading in New York closed mixed Monday, as investors awaited a speech by U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.
The Bank of New York index of ADRs rose 0.1% to 137.81.
Mr. Bernanke began speaking at the University of Michigan around the close of trading Monday, in his first speech since the Fed's meeting minutes indicated that some members want to end the central bank's bond-buying program before the end of the year.
Meanwhile, industrial-production data in the euro zone showed output fell in November from the pervious year, while in Asia, a regulator said China will grant foreigners greater access to its stock markets.
The European index fell 0.1% to 130.10.
Vodafone Group PLC (VOD, VOD.LN) said Monday it is planning job cuts at its troubled Spanish unit as the mobile operator continues to grapple with a sagging economy in southern Europe. The U.K.-based telecommunications giant has been losing customers in Spain month after month. Shares fell 1.2% to $26.27.
Permira and PAI Partners are considering bids for France-based Alcatel-Lucent's (ALU, ALU.FR) submarine cable unit, Bloomberg News reported Monday. Sovereign fund Fonds Strategique d'Investissement and France Telecom (FTE, FTE.FR), which were mentioned in a December story by newspaper Les Echos about the submarine cable unit, are also potential bidders, Bloomberg reported. Alcatel-Lucent shares rose 5% to $1.69.
Telecom Italia SpA (TI, TIA, TIT.MI) should be a big winner in 2013 and investors should "buy now, buy here, buy today," Societe Generale said in a sell-side note. The investment bank said the Italian telecommunications company is likely to hit its debt reduction target of EUR28 billion for the end of 2012 and said "it now seems" the company's mobile revenue contracted less than feared in the fourth quarter. Shares rose 2.6% to $10.15.
The Asian index rose 0.4% to 135.39.
Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. (MPEL, 6883.HK) shares rose 2.8% to $19.17 as at least one firm boosted its price target for the Hong Kong-based casino operator. Said Janney, which raised its price target to $24.50 from $19.75, in a note to clients: "Looking ahead to 2013 for Macau, we expect growth in the mass market to out pace growth in the VIP segment. MPEL currently operates one of the premier mass market casinos, City of Dreams, and we think this property will benefit from increased play levels."
The Latin American index rose 0.5% to 342.47 and the emerging markets index added 0.4% to 299.54.
Brazil's Embraer SA (ERJ, EMBR3.BR), the world's No. 4 aircraft maker by sales, said Monday it delivered 205 airplanes in 2012, up slightly from the 204 planes it delivered the year before, while its backlog of orders fell to the lowest level since 2005. Shares rose 2.5% to $28 as business-jet sales were better than expected and orders should start improving this year after slumping in 2012.
Write to Anna Prior at anna.prior@dowjones.com
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