By Rodrigo Campos

NEW YORK, June 17 (Reuters) - Overseas shares traded in
the United States were flat on Wednesday as rising defensive
stocks, including drugmakers, offset declines in energy and
basic materials companies.

Advancers included the U.S.-listed shares of AstraZeneca
(AZN.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Novartis AG (NVS.N: Quote, Profile, Research), up more than 2 percent each,
while in telecommunications, another traditionally defensive
sector, the ADRs of Vodafone VOD.N gained 3.4 percent and
those of Deutsche Telekom (DT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) jumped 4.3 percent.

But many basic materials and energy companies fell despite
an 0.8 percent gain in U.S. crude oil futures CLc1, as
prospects for a sluggish global economic recovery worried
investors about a decrease in demand.

Brazilian energy giant Petrobras (PBR.N: Quote, Profile, Research) fell 2 percent to
$40.28 while miner Vale (VALE.N: Quote, Profile, Research) lost 1.1 percent to $18.60,
which helped push the Bank of New York Mellon's index of
leading American Depositary Receipts down 1.1 percent.

The broader Bank of New York Mellon index of leading ADRs
dipped 0.01 percent, compared with a decline of 0.09
percent in the Dow Jones industrial average .DJI and a drop
of 0.14 percent in the benchmark Standard & Poor's 500 index
.SPX.

The Bank of New York Mellon's index of leading Asian ADRs
rose 0.2 percent, with outstanding gains coming from
Japanese financial companies, including Mizuho Financial Group
(MFG.N: Quote, Profile, Research), up 4 percent at $5.17.

The bank's index of leading European ADRs inched
up 0.03 percent.
(Editing by Jan Paschal)