ADRs End Higher; Royal Bank of Scotland, Petrobras Trade Actively

International stocks trading in New York closed higher on Wednesday.

The BNY Mellon index of American depositary receipts improved 1.13% to 142.76, the Asian index increased 1.16% to 163.02, the Latin American index rose 2.25% to 230.07, the Europe index rose 1% to 134.83, and the emerging-markets index improved 1.67% to 297.65.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (RBS) and Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PBR) were among those with ADRs that traded actively.

U.K. government-controlled bank RBS agreed to pay $5.5 billion to the Federal Housing Finance Agency to settle a probe into the sale of soured mortgage-backed securities prior to the start of the financial crisis. ADRs fell 1.5% to $6.58.

Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was sentenced to serve nearly a decade in prison after being found guilty of corruption and money laundering. Prosecutors said Mr. da Silva received bribes from construction group OAS in exchange for securing contracts with Petrobras, the state-owned oil company. ADRs in Petrobras, which also announced its board approved an initial public offering for its fuel-distribution business, rose 5% to $8.44.

The European Union's official statistics agency said Wednesday that output in factories, mines and utilities rose in May at the fastest annual pace in more than five years. That news follows the agency's announcement last week that the eurozone economy rose in the first quarter at the fastest rate in two years. ADRs in ArcelorMittal SA (MT) rose 1.2% to $24.55 and ADRs in BP PLC (BP) rose 1.48% to $34.87.

Write to Bowdeya Tweh at bowdeya.tweh@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 12, 2017 18:10 ET (22:10 GMT)