ADRs in Focus: Chinese solar stocks gain

U.S.-traded shares of Chinese solar companies advanced Friday as Wall Street moved higher, partly on a decline in oil prices, but an index of Chinese ADRs pulled back slightly.

The Bank of New York China ADR Index fell 1.57 points _ about a third of a percent _ to 438.97. Meanwhile, the Bank of New York Asia ADR Index rose 1.99 points, or 1.3 percent, to 156.75 while the broader Bank of New York Composite ADR Index advanced 1.26 to 171.69, tracking U.S. markets higher.

American Depositary Receipts, or ADRs, are securities designed to allow U.S. investors to trade shares of companies based overseas.

China Sunergy Co. rose 8 cents to $10.63; Trina Solar Ltd. gained $1.17, or 3.2 percent, to $37.49; Suntech Power Holdings Co. rose $2.12, or 5.7 percent, to $39.60; and JA Solar Holdings Co. gained 4 cents to $18.86.

Elsewhere in the sector, LDK Solar Co. said it received a five-year supply contract from Jiangxi Solar PV Corp. LDK added $1.36, or 3.8 percent, to $36.91.

Bucking the trend, Solarfun Power Holdings Co. lost a penny to $18.20.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 average closed 0.61 percent higher, but inflation worries had investors selling Chinese stocks.

China's most-watched index, the Shanghai Composite, lost 3 percent to 2,868.80 and has tumbled 17 percent over the past eight days.