SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones) -- U.S.-listed shares of foreign companies ended slightly higher Wednesday, reversing sharp losses as Wall Street staged a late- session rally led by stocks in the beleaguered financial sector.
The Bank of New York Mellon American Depositary Receipt Composite Index ( 16899W10) closed up 0.1% to 166.34.
The Asia ADR Index climbed 1.5% and the Latin America ADR Index rose 0.9%, while the Europe ADR Index remained in the red, with a loss of 0.4%.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) snapped a six-session losing streak by swinging back from a decline of more than 340 points, to finish up 300 points at 12,270.20.
The surge was fueled in large part by a climb in financial stocks on talk of a possible $15 billion bailout plan by regulators for bond insurers, which guarantee billions of dollars of mortgage-related securities held by a number of large investment banks.
Most banking shares on the ADR market climbed. UBS (UBS) rose 4.5% to $42.38, HSBC (NYSE:HBC) (HBC) gained 4.8% to $76.62, Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS) (CS) leaped 4.9%, and Banco Macro (NYSE:BMA) (BMA) climbed 5.2% to 23.10.
A 2.8% fall in crude-oil prices to $86.75 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange left most oil stocks lower. Total (TOT) fell 3.8%, Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDSA) ( RDSA) tumbled 4%, BP (BP) lost 1.6% and StatoilHydro (NYSE:STO) (STO) fell 3% to $25.30.
But PetroChina (NYSE:PTR) (PTR) shares posted a 3.6% rise to $145.75 after a ratings upgrade to outperform from peer perform by Bear Stearns. China Petroleum (SNP) shares surged 6.9% to $115.68 and CNOOC (NYSE:CEO) (CEO) rose 5.8% to $145.75.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 01-24-08 0024 Copyright (c) 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
