The US markets closed higher on Friday, as optimism in the global economy grew after central banks in China and Europe signaled additional stimulus measures. The initial strength on Wall Street came in on reports that Chinese central bank cut its benchmark interest rates for the first time since July of 2012. The People’s Bank of China said the one-year lending rate was reduced by 0.4 percentage points to 5.6 percent, while the one-year deposit rate was lowered by 0.25 percentage points to 2.75 percent. The move was seen as part of an effort by the Chinese government to combat recent signs of sluggishness in the world's second largest economy.
Sentiments also remained up-beat after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi indicated that the bank may broaden its asset purchases in an effort to boost inflation. He said ‘We will do what we must to raise inflation and inflation expectations as fast as possible, as our price stability mandate requires of us’. However, the focus on developments overseas came amid a quiet day on the U.S. economic front, leading to a lack of follow-through on the initial upward move. Most of the major sectors ended the session well off their best levels of the day, although considerable strength remained visible among steel stocks.
Dow Jones Industrial Average added 91.06 points or 0.51 percent to 17,810.06, Nasdaq was up by 11.10 points or 0.24 percent to 4,712.97, while S&P 500 ended higher by 10.75 points or 0.52 percent to 2,063.50.
The Indian ADRs closed in green on Friday; Infosys was up by 1.60%, ICICI Bank was up 1.32%, HDFC Bank was up 0.88%, Tata Motors was up by 0.74% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab was up by 0.57%.
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