ADRs in Focus: China

During the past several weeks, snow and ice storms in east, central and southern China have caused dozens of deaths, airport closures, train service disruptions and blackouts.

Still, shares of New Oriental Education & Technology Group gained $4.45, or 8.5 percent, to $56.70. The Beijing-based provider of private educational services forecast fiscal third-quarter sales below Wall Street expectations because of the weather. The company also said some students haven't been able to get to class, while others deferred enrollment.

But Goldman Sachs analyst James Mitchell stood by his estimates and said most students who want to learn English will eventually take courses later in the quarter or year.

"Even if the storms result in outright loss of business, we believe that investors should treat the impact as not recurring," Mitchell wrote in a client note.

Ctrip.com International Ltd., a Chinese online travel Web site, rose $2.84, or 6.6 percent, to $45.66, reversing declines from Wednesday when a Citigroup analyst said the weather may hurt the company's first-quarter revenue.

The Bank of New York China ADR Index advanced 4.86 points to 473.40, following Thursday's late rally in U.S. markets, but the index is down nearly 18 percent year-to-date. ADR stands for American Depositary Receipt, which is a security designed to allow U.S. investors to trade shares of companies based overseas.

On the losing side, some transport and energy stocks declined, as the snowstorms have disrupted transport in parts of China and interfered with supplies of food and fuel.

China Southern Airlines Co. Ltd., the country's largest carrier by fleet size, declined 61 cents to $43.99.

Yanzhou Coal Mining Co., which is based in Zoucheng in Eastern China, declined $2.72, or 3.1 percent, to $86.07. A Goldman Sachs analyst on Wednesday downgraded the company's shares to "Sell" from "Neutral," saying recent spikes in coal prices caused by supply bottlenecks and the severity of the winter storms could reverse in 2008.