Emerging Mkts ADRs: Low Volumes, Weak On U.S., Yen
Dow Jones Newswires
NEW YORK -- Emerging market shares trading as American depositary
receipts are quietly changing hands in low volumes Thursday, without much
cause to move prices higher, market participants said.
Dealers said lingering concerns over the price of the yen against the dollar kept
Asian markets down overnight, spooking traders of Latin American stocks.
They also cited pressure stemming from recent volatility in the Dow Jones
Industrial Average.
The yen was trading at Y144.57 to the dollar at 1537 GMT, with the DJIA
advancing marginally, up 0.07% at 1640 GMT.
Moreover, the probe of President Bill Clinton by a special prosecutor in a case
involving former White House intern Monica Lewinsky is also also affecting
liquidity in Brazilian stocks, a trader said.
"Brazilian locals want to understand better the potential damage of the
Lewinsky matter on the DJIA," he said. "They're staying on the sidelines, so
the trades involved are from some proprietary accounts."
Brazilian benchmark Telebras was down 1 5/16 to $1075/16 at 1530 GMT,
while HOLDRs, the synthetic Telebras ADR, were 1 lower, to $108 1/4, in
very light volume.
Investors were unfazed by news of earnings per share in Argentine oil and gas
company YPF falling 31% in the second quarter to $0.44 per ADR compared
with the same period in 1997, as they came in very close to market
expectations.
The stock - one of only three advancers among the Argentine ADRs - was up
5/16 to $27 1/4.
Meanwhile, investors with positions in Mexico are following the Dow Jones
Industrial Average, which has been timidly higher all morning, but in general
they aren't committing to large trades, dealers said.
"Flows remain low, and with the external factors we're looking at, its difficult to
single out any share," a trader said.
Mexico's most prominent rise Thursday was retailer Grupo Elektra, which rose
5.2% to $7 9/16 at 1550 GMT.
"It has gone down 30% in a month," a trader said. "It's a normal bounce. It
rebounded yesterday a bit and now its consolidating around that level."
Asian ADRs are mostly sliding lower, emulating the performance of local
markets, traders said.
"The yen failed to do anything against the dollar, on concerns that the Japanese
parliament won't pass Friday the measures approved by the cabinet to restore
the economy," a trader said.
China's Huaneng Power fell 2% to $9 at 1553 GMT, while Asia Pulp &
Paper, established in Singapore but with most of its operations in Indonesia,
rose 1/8 to $9 1/8.
-By Margarita Palatnik; 201-938-2226; margarita.palatnik@cor.dowjones.com
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