The US markets after showing a volatile trend in short trading session made a flat closing on Friday, lacking any major US economic data, though the Dow with another modest gains eked out a new record close, the 31st record close of 2014. For the week, the Nasdaq surged by 1.7 percent, while the Dow and the S&P 500 crept up by 0.1 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively. For the week, the Nasdaq surged up by 1.7 percent, while the Dow and the S&P 500 crept up by 0.1 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively. All three indexes have climbed for six weeks straight. It's the longest climb for the three market measures since an 8-week winning streak that ended in November 2013. Energy stocks saw substantial weakness amid the steep drop of the price of crude oil after Saudi Arabian oil minister Ali Al-Naimi said OPEC would maintain its oil production target at 30 million barrels per day. Retailers were in the limelight in the holiday-shortened session, as traders watch for early signs of Black Friday success. The National Retail Federation has said holiday spending will rise 4.1 percent this year, beating last year’s 3.1 percent gain.
The Dow Jones industrial average was tad higher by 0.49 points, to 17,828.24, the S&P 500 dipped 5.27 points or 0.3 percent to 2,067.56, while the Nasdaq Composite edged up 4.31 points or 0.1 percent to 4,791.63.
The Indian ADRs closed mostly in green on Friday, HDFC Bank was up by 1.42%, ICICI Bank was up by 1.30%, Wipro was up by 0.05%, and Tata Motors was up by 0.83%. On the other hand Infy was down by 0.03%.