The US markets closed higher on Friday on bargain hunting following Thursday’s sell-off, which pulled all the three major averages down to their lowest closing levels in over a month. Sentiments remained up-beat after the Commerce Department showed that U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) grew faster than previously estimated in the second quarter. The Commerce Department said that GDP surged by 4.6 percent in the second quarter compared to the previously reported 4.2 percent growth. The upwardly revised growth, which matched the street expectation, reflects a notable turnaround from the 2.1 percent contraction seen in the first quarter. With the upward revision, the GDP growth in the second quarter reflected the biggest jump since a matching increase in the fourth quarter of 2011. Meanwhile, Thomson Reuters and the University of Michigan also released a report showing an unrevised improvement in consumer sentiment in the month of September.
Nasdaq surged 45.45 points or 1.02 percent to 4,512.19, S&P 500 ended higher by 16.86 points or 0.86 percent to 1,982.85 and Dow Jones Industrial Average was up by 167.35 points or 0.99 percent to 17,113.15.
The Indian ADRs closed mostly in green on Friday; Tata Motors was up 1.80%, HDFC Bank was up 1.57%, Infosys was up 1.10% and ICICI Bank was up by 0.59%. On the other hand, Dr. Reddy’s Lab was down by 0.58%.