International stocks trading in New York were mixed on Thursday.
The Bank of New York index of American depositary receipts fell
0.95% to 155.60. The European index decreased 1.1% to 153.97, the
Asian index dropped 0.84% to 149.75, the Latin American index rose
0.6% to 296.56 and the emerging markets index declined 0.13% to
294.31. Among the companies with shares that actively traded were
Telefonica SA (TEF, TEF.MC) and Portugal Telecom SGPS SA (PT,
PTC.LB).
The European Union's top court on Thursday upheld a record 152
million euro ($207 million) fine imposed on Spanish telecom giant
Telefonica in 2007 for stifling competition in Spain's broadband
Internet market. The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg said
EU regulators had demonstrated that Telefonica's behavior in Spain
had had "potential anticompetitive effects that may have excluded
competitors." Shares fell 2.7% to $16.53.
Espirito Santo Financial Group SA Thursday said it has suspended
trading in its own shares and bonds. In a news release, Espirito
Santo Financial Group said the suspension was due to "ongoing
material difficulties at its largest shareholder Espirito Santo
International SA." Portugal Telecom last week disclosed that it has
EUR897 million ($1.22 billion) in commercial paper from a unit of
Espirito Santo, which is due on July 15. Portugal Telecom shares
fell 6.8% to $2.60.
Vodafone Group PLC (VOD, VODPF, VOD.LN) said Thursday that it
will continue international arbitration to resolve its
multibillion-dollar tax dispute with India. While unveiling the
country's national budget Thursday, India's new finance minister,
Arun Jaitley, said that while India is trying to create a more
predictable taxation system, pending tax disputes will have to be
resolved by the courts. Some observers had hoped the budget might
contain some resolutions for long-pending tax disputes like the one
with Vodafone. Shares fell 0.8% to $32.44.
Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com
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