Overseas shares traded in the United States fell on Friday on fresh fears of a Greek debt default. But US-listed shares of BP gained 2.5 percent to $45.00 after the oil company struck a key victory in its battle to share the cost of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co agreed to pay $1.1 billion towards the clean-up bill and possibly billions more in fines.
Mitsui's exploration unit MOEX owned 10 percent of the Macondo well but had sought to avoid paying its share of the costs, claiming BP's negligence exempted it from this obligation. The BNY Mellon index of leading American Depository Receipts (ADRs) was down 0.6 percent while the US benchmark S&P 500 index fell 0.2 percent.
The BNY Mellon index of leading Asian ADRs fell 0.7 percent. In Japan, shares edged lower as a furious debate over the future of Japan's power industry rattled investors. Bank shares were hit as the market speculated how the government will structure Tokyo Electric Power's fund to compensate victims of the crisis at its Fukushima Daiichi plant.
US-listed shares of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group fell 1.3 percent to $4.56 and Mizuho Financial Group lost 1.6 percent to $3.14. The BNY Mellon index of leading European ADRs fell 0.7 percent. Receipts with the BNY Mellon index of leading Latin American ADRs gained 0.4 percent.