By Anna Prior
International companies trading in New York closed sharply
higher Wednesday as the Federal Reserve surprised investors by
announcing that its stimulus measures would remain unchanged.
The Bank of New York index of ADRs jumped 2.5% to 147.36.
The Federal Open Market Committee said in its policy-setting
statement that it would continue to buy $85 billion in bonds each
month, with officials saying that they wanted to see more evidence
that the economy can sustain improvement before scaling back the
central bank's bond purchases. Investors had expected the Fed to
pare its bond-buying programs by between $10 billion and $15
billion at this meeting.
The European index rose 2.2% to 141.38.
Shares of Nokia Corp. (NOK, NOK1V.HE) climbed after Credit
Suisse lifted its recommendation on the Finnish firm to outperform
from neutral. "We believe Nokia's transformative deal with
Microsoft allows it to drive significant value creation from its
vast patent portfolio," the analysts said. Shares rose 7% to
$6.71.
Siemens AG (SI, SIE.XE), the German electronics giant, unveiled
a broad realignment of its top management on Wednesday with the
appointment of a new chief finance officer, streamlining of the
management board, and a new appointment to the company's
nonexecutive supervisory board. Shares rose 3.6% to $122.41.
The Asian index climbed 2.6% to 150.37.
Camelot Information Systems Inc. (CIS) has agreed to be taken
private by a group led by its chairman and chief executive for
$98.2 million, an increased offer from the group's initial proposal
in March. The buyout offer of $2.05 per American depositary share
represents a 37% premium over Camelot's closing price on March 11,
the last trading day prior to the group's initial going-private
proposal. The company offers enterprise application services and
financial industry information technology services in China. Shares
climbed 5.5% to $1.91.
Prima Biomed Ltd.'s (PBMD, PRR.AU) investigational vaccine
therapy to treat a type of ovarian cancer showed no observed
difference when compared with results in a control arm in an
early-stage study, resulting in the Australian company temporarily
suspending enrollment in another study. Shares tumbled 31% to
$1.61.
The Latin American index surged 4.4% to 302.93 and the emerging
markets index rose 3.1% to 282.91.
South African gold-mining companies surged as gold futures
jumped in response to the Fed's surprise decision to keep stimulus
efforts in place. Harmony Gold Mining Co. (HMY, HAR.JO) rose 14% to
$4.12, while Gold Fields Ltd. (GFI, GFI.JO) climbed 11% to $5.23,
Drdgold Ltd. (DRD, DRD.JO) jumped 11% to $6.39, and AngloGold
Ashanti Ltd. (AU, ANG.JO) added 8.9% to $14.30.
Write to Anna Prior at anna.prior@wsj.com