Dow Jones industrial average was up 47 points,up 0.45 percent, to 10,444. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index ended higher at 1,123. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index ended higher to settle 2,292.
US mkts eked out modest gains after some encouraging economic news ahead of jobs report later today; Indian ADRs ended mixed; Satyam Comp up 2.4%
The US markets eked out modest gains after some encouraging economic news ahead of the jobs report later today. Consumer stocks were the top performers on better-than-expected retail-sales reports. Earlier stocks had bobbled midmorning after a report showed an unexpected drop in pending-home sales.
Strength among financials helped the broader market shrug off a stronger dollar, which gained 0.7% against competing currencies.
At closing bell, the Dow Jones gained 47.38 or half a percent, to close at 10,444.14. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq also posted modest gains.
In key economic data to watch initial jobless claims for the week ended Feb 27 totaled 469,000, which was in-line with the consensus call. Continuing claims dropped more than expected to 4.50 million. In other economic news, pending home sales for January fell 7.6% month-over-month. A 1% monthly increase had been expected. Factory orders for January increased 1.7%, which was in stride with the 1.8% increase that had been widely expected. Retailers dominated corporate news flow with the release of February same-store sales figures, which was higher than expected.
The dollar rose versus the euro, which was pressured in the wake of the decision by both the European Central Bank and the Bank of England to keep target interest rates unchanged. The Bank of England also kept its quantitative easing measures unchanged. The dollar index is hovering around that 80 mark.
Still, the greenback’s gain hurt commodity prices. Specifically, oil futures prices fell 0.8%, however crude prices were able to hold on to the $ 80 per barrel level.
Copper prices fell for the first time in five sessions after a report showed an unexpected drop in US home-sales, spurring concern that demand from builders will remain weak. Lead, nickel, tin and zinc prices also fell. Aluminum prices however saw an up move.
Indian ADRs ended mixed on Thursday. In IT space, Satyam Computers was up 2.4% at $ 5.55, Patni Computers was up 0.14% at $ 21.4 while Infosys ended down 1.44% at $ 58.19 and Wipro ended down 0.8% at $ 22.41.
In Telecom space, MTNL was up 0.62% at $ 3.24 while Tata Communication was down 0.08% at $ 12.5. In Banking space, HDFC Bank was up 0.26% at $ 124.7 while ICICI Bank was down 1.2% at $ 39.57.
In other sectors, Tata Motors ended up 0.79% at $ 17.78 while Sterlite Industries was down 1.56% at $ 17.65 and Dr Reddy’s Labs was down 0.86% at $ 25.31.