ADR Report-ADRs stumble on European banks' write-downs

By Jennifer Coogan

NEW YORK, May 13 (Reuters) - U.S.-listed shares of overseas companies fell on Tuesday, dragged down by European financial shares after a string of banks revealed the damage to their balance sheets from the U.S. mortgage market meltdown.

The Bank of New York Mellon's index of leading American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) .BKADR was down 0.3 percent while the 30-share Dow Jones industrial average .DJI was down 0.5 percent at 12,814.43.

Among the regional indexes, the Bank of New York Mellon's index of leading European ADRs .BKEUR was the worst performer, down 0.7 percent. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index closed slightly lower.

European financials were on weak footing after French banks Credit Agricole (CAGR.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Societe Generale (SOGN.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Britain's Alliance & Leicester (ALLL.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Belgian-Dutch group Fortis (FOR.BR: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) all announced mortgage market-related write-downs on Tuesday.

U.S.-listed shares of Britain's Barclays (BCS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) were down 2.5 percent at $34.34 and rival Lloyds TSB (LYG.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) dropped 2.4 percent to $32.77 on the New York Stock Exchange.

The Bank of New York Mellon's index of leading Asian ADRs .BKAS was down just 0.04 percent. In Asia, major equity benchmarks ended higher.

U.S.-listed shares of Westpac Banking Corp Ltd fell after the company launched a $17.6 billion all-share bid for smaller rival St. George Bank Ltd (SGB.AX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) in a move to create Australia's biggest bank by market value [ID:nSYD40653].

Westpac shares were down 3 percent to $117.73.