US equity indices ended mostly in red terrain on Friday after a speech by Federal Reserve head Janet Yellen indicated that an increase in interest rates may be coming soon. She said “in light of the continued solid performance of the labor market and our outlook for economic activity and inflation, I believe the case for an increase in the federal funds rate has strengthened in recent months.” Sentiments also remained dampened with the Commerce Department release showing a slight downward revision to the pace of U.S. economic growth in the second quarter. The report said gross domestic product increased by 1.1 percent in the second quarter, reflecting a downward revision compared to the originally reported 1.2 percent growth. The downwardly revised GDP growth in the second quarter still reflects acceleration from the 0.8 percent increase seen in the first quarter. A separate report from the University of Michigan unexpectedly showed a slight deterioration in consumer sentiment in the month of August.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 53.01 points or 0.29 percent to 18,395.40 and S&P 500 slipped 3.43 points or 0.16 percent to 2,169.04. However, Nascaq was up by 6.71 points or 0.13 percent to 5,218.92.
The Indian ADRs closed mostly in red; HDFC Bank declined 0.49%, Dr. Reddy’s Lab shed 0.17%, Infosys fell 0.15%, Wipro slipped 0.13% and ICICI Bank was down by 0.01%. On the other hand, Tata Motors was up by 0.83%.