US markets ended modestly in green on Thursday with Nasdaq ending the session at a new record closing high. There were some good earnings announcements from big-name companies that provided strength to the markets. Apart from this, traders also turned optimistic that the Federal Reserve will delay its planned increase in interest rates following the release of disappointing housing data and rise in initial jobless claims for the week. The Commerce Department reported that new home sales plunged 11.4 percent to an annual rate of 481,000 in March after jumping 5.6 percent to a revised rate of 543,000 in February. Separately, Labor Department reported an unexpected uptick in initial jobless claims in the week ended April 18th, although claims remained below 300,000.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 20.42 points or 0.11 percent to 18,058.69 and the S&P 500 edged up 4.97 points or 0.24 percent to 2,112.93, while the Nasdaq ended higher at 20.89 points or 0.41 percent to 5,056.06.
The Indian ADRs ended mostly in red on Thursday, Dr Reddy’s lab was 0.20%, HDFC Bank was down by 0.19%, ICICI Bank was lower by 0.01% and Tata Motors was down by 0.77%.
On the other hand, Infosys was up by 0.40% and Wipro was up by 0.10%.