International stocks trading in New York closed higher on
Friday, with the Bank of New York index of American depositary
receipts adding 0.4% to 154.42. The European index rose 0.5% to
154.77, the Asian index added 0.3% to 143.49, the Latin American
index climbed 0.6% to 295.28 and the emerging markets index rose
0.8% to 285.91. Among the companies with shares that actively
traded were Total SA (TOT, FP.FR) and Baidu Inc. (BIDU,
K3SD.SG).
Oil major Total Chairman and Chief Executive Christophe de
Margerie confirmed on Friday that he plans to attend a conference
later this month in St. Petersburg, Russia, while other Western
executives have been skipping the event because of tensions between
the West and Moscow over Ukraine. He also noted that the diplomatic
crisis between Russia and Ukraine could slightly delay the start of
production of a liquefied natural gas project in northern Russia.
Shares rose 1% to $71.00.
Chinese search giant Baidu said it will invest $300 million in a
new research-and-development center in Silicon Valley that will
have almost 200 employees and be led by Andrew Ng, most recently
the head of Stanford University's artificial-intelligence lab.
Shares slipped 0.4% to $154.77.
Mining company Rio Tinto PLC (RIO, RIO.LN) has privately assured
Guinea that its recently filed lawsuit against Brazilian rival Vale
SA (VALE, VALE3.BR, VALE5.BR) isn't a secret move to reclaim
control of a valuable African iron-ore project, according to a
letter seen by The Wall Street Journal. Rio Tinto shares fell 2.8%
to $55.18 and Vale shares dropped 1.8% to $13.73.
A newspaper controlled by Chinese legal officials leveled fresh
accusations at GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK, GSK.LN) on Friday, just
two days after police accused its former top China executive of
orchestrating widespread corporate bribery to boost sales. Shares
of the U.K. drug maker fell 0.1% to $55.43.
China Southern Airlines Co. (ZNH, 1055.HK, 600029.SH, K3TD.SG)
signed an agreement to buy a total of 80 passenger aircraft from
Airbus Group NV as Chinese carriers go on a buying spree with the
European plane maker and rival Boeing Co. Shares of the
Guangzhou-based carrier fell 0.8% to $15.14.
Italy's Eni SpA (E, ENI.MI) said it and partner Statoil ASA
(STO, STL.OS) had decided to further delay the start-up of the
Goliat oil field in the Barents Sea to mid-2015 after technical
challenges and significant cost overruns. Eni shares rose 1.5% to
$51.29, while Statoil shares rose 0.8% to $30.15.
Write to Anna Prior at anna.prior@wsj.com
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