US markets closed higher trimming weekly loss

24 Mar 2012 Evaluate

The US markets closed higher on Friday, trimming the biggest weekly loss of the year, with the S&P 500 index declining for the first time in five weeks. The global market sentiment turned cautious as investors got worried about the health of the economy after the latest report on home sales signaled further trouble for housing. The morale was already dampened with a weaker global manufacturing data in previous sessions.  The pace of new-home sales cooled a bit in February even as prices stormed higher, according to data released by the Commerce Department, suggesting that a modest but noticeable improvement in the housing market is holding. Sales of new homes fell 1.6% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 313,000 from a downwardly revised 318,000 in January. The sales rate is still 11.4% above the rate of February 2011, and the report on new-home sales wraps up a week of data on the housing industry that showed a slight slowing in activity from February relative to January but nonetheless a significant improvement from the autumn. Besides, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard stated that the US and world economies risk elevated inflation that persists for years should developed nations mistimed their exits from simulative monetary policies.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher by 34.59 points, or 0.27 percent, at 13,080.70. The S&P 500 gain 4.33 points, or 0.31 percent, at 1,397.11, while the Nasdaq was up by 4.60 points, or 0.15 percent, at 3,067.92.

Indian ADRs closed mostly in green on Friday, Infosys Technologies was up 0.56%, HDFC Bank was up 0.51%, ICICI Bank was up 0.19% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab was up 0.04%. On the flip side, MTNL was down 0.02%.

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