DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

Asian ADRs were mixed in Thursday's session. Among Chinese stocks, China's state oil firms China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (NYSE:SNP) (SNP), or Sinopec, and PetroChina Co. (NYSE:PTR) (PTR) rose 7.7% to $112.42 and 4.4% to $140.49, respectively, after the government increased domestic gasoline and diesel prices by 17% to 18% . The fuel price hike will relieve pressure on the two businesses, which have been bleeding money on their refining business.

Chinese airlines China Eastern Airlines Corp. (NYSE:CEA) (CEA) and China Southern Airlines (NYSE:ZNH) (ZNH) continued their declines from earlier in the week because of high oil prices and shrinking demand. China Eastern fell 4% to $33.25 and China Southern slid 3.1% to $23.42.

Japan's Hitachi Ltd. (NYSE:HIT) (HIT) rose another 1.9% to $73.67 two days after Detroit Edison (NYSE:DTE) (DTE) chose GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy's next-generation nuclear reactor design for potential new unit at its existing power plant.

India's outsourcing companies Wipro Corp. (WIT) and Infosys Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ-NMS:INFY) (INFY) gained 2.9% to $13.48 and 2.1% to $46.36, respectively. Recently, the weakening rupee has pushed up information-technology companies' earnings - largely derived from overseas dollar-denominated revenue - and helped their stocks regain most of the losses they had early this year.

Korea Electric Power Corp. (NYSE:KEP) (KEP) rose 2.4% to $15.20 after the South Korean government said it won't privatize state-run utilities, opting instead for vigorous restructuring.

-By Kathy Shwiff, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5975; Kathy.Shwiff@dowjones.com

    (END) Dow Jones Newswires   06-19-08 1717   Copyright (c) 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.