US stocks closed higher led by financials & tech stocks – 11March 2010

The US stocks closed higher led by financials and technology stocks. Staples and telecoms were the biggest decliners. Trading volume was finally at par with the year-ago average after several weeks of light trading. About 9.50 billion shares changed hands on the three major exchanges.

Bank shares hit a 16-month high, with Bank of America and JP Morgan among the top Dow gainers. Citigroup shot up 6% amid news that it has issued a $ 2 billion trust preferred offering and on positive analyst comments on the stock.

Technology also fared well on the 10-year anniversary of the dot-com bubble’s peak. Google, Intel and Microsoft all put on some weight.

At the end of trade, the Dow Jones closed flat at 10,567. The S&P 500 closed at 1,145 and the Nasdaq ended nearly a percent higher at 2,359.

In economic news, wholesales inventories unexpectedly fell 0.2% in January as sales rose to their highest level since October 2008. Economists had expected to see a 0.2% increase in inventories. In other data, mortgage applications rose last week even as mortgage rates rose.

The dollar slipped against the euro as risk appetite improved in general with a rise in European and US stocks, boosting demand for higher-yielding but riskier currencies. The dollar index is currently around 80.5.

In commodities, crude prices rebounded after profit-taking had erased earlier gains from news that gasoline stocks in the US dropped unexpectedly by 2.9 million barrels to 229 million barrels last week. Crude is currently trading just shy of the 82 dollar mark.

Base metals shed some weight, with both copper and aluminium down a percent.

Indian ADRs ended higher, barring a couple of stocks. In Banking space, HDFC Bank was up 4.62% at $ 132.81 and ICICI Bank was up 0.15% at $ 40.91. In Telecom space, MTNL was up 3.1% at $ 3.33 while Tata Communication remained unchanged at $ 12.85.

In IT space, Infosys and Satyam Computers were up 0.55% each at $ 59.805 and $ 5.45 respectively, while Wipro ended down 0.17% at $ 22.89 and Patni Computers ended down 1.11% at $ 22.72.

In other sectors, Tata Motors was up 0.7% at $ 18.59, Dr Reddy’s Labs was up 0.54% at $ 26.01 and Sterlite Industries was up 0.46% at $ 17.66.

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