International stocks trading in New York closed slightly lower on Friday.

The BNY Mellon index of American depositary receipts fell 0.2% to 137.97. The European index fell 0.2% to 127.77. The Asian index fell 0.5% to 161.34. The Latin American index rose 0.4% to 237.16. And the emerging-markets index fell 0.4% to 301.62.

Prudential PLC (PUK), ING Group NV (ING) and SAP SE (SAP) were among those with ADRs that traded actively.

Prudential is likely to report higher full-year profit when the insurer posts 2018 results on Wednesday, says Panmure Gordon. Panmure forecasts a slight increase in IFRS operating profit, with anticipated performance having been impacted by currency volatility and other issues. The brokerage also expects a final dividend of 35.09 pence, up 8%, making the full-year dividend 50.76p, also up 8% and slightly ahead of consensus. "The shares have recovered from market-low woes and are up 11% in the year to date, but we believe they remain attractively valued. Buy," says Panmure's Barrie Cornes. ADRs of Prudential fell 2% to $39.94.

ING is shuffling its investments to fight climate change but won't end financing for fossil fuels right away, the Dutch bank says. "Limiting the rise of global temperatures to well below two degrees Celsius requires a major shift in investment patterns," it says. Last year, the bank provided EUR16.5 billion of loans, up from EUR14.6 billion in 2017, aimed at reducing carbon emissions, and it plans to remove thermal coal from its investments and loans by 2025. "Climate change is one of the biggest challenges of our time and, as such, extremely significant to ING and our stakeholders," the bank says. ADRs of ING fell 1.8% to $11.76.

SAP and Bumble Bee Foods said Friday the seafood company is using SAP's Cloud Platform Blockchain service to track yellowfin tuna from the point it is caught to the consumer's home. The technology allows customers to scan Bumble Bee Foods' Natural Blue by Anova yellowfin tuna cans with their smartphone to reveal where the fish was caught, the size of the catch and other information to verify "authenticity, freshness, safety, fair trade fishing certification and sustainability." ADRs of SAP were up 1.5% to $107.97.

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 08, 2019 17:55 ET (22:55 GMT)

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