US markets closed mostly lower on Cyprus worries

20 Mar 2013 Evaluate

The US markets closed mostly lower on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 extending its longest losing streak since late December, as investors remained concerned about developments in Cyprus that placed a financial bailout at risk. The Federal Open Market Committee started a two-day gathering after agreeing in December to tie record-low interest rates to the labor market and inflation. The Federal Reserve will use its policy meeting next week to try to convince investors that it has no intention of slowing down or ending its ultra-loose monetary policy anytime soon. On the economy front, construction on new US homes nudged up in February with modest gains for single-family residences and apartments, as longer-term trends signaled a housing market that continued to strengthen. The US Department of Commerce’s report also showed substantial gains in building permits, which indicate future demand. The construction on new US homes rose 0.8% in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 917,000, the highest level since December.

In Europe, the parliament in Cyprus rejected an updated proposal, which avoided taxing the smallest depositors but still slapped a 6.75% tax on those with over 20,000 euros ($26,000) on deposit. Large depositors, or those with over 100,000 euros, faced a 9.9% tax rate. This throws into doubt a €10 billion euro bailout deal for Cyprus reached with the European Union just three days ago.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 3.76 points or 0.03 percent to 14,455.80, the S&P 500 dropped 3.76 points or 0.24 percent to 1,548.34 and the Nasdaq slipped 8.50 points or 0.26 percent to 3,229.09.

The Indian ADRs closed in red on Tuesday, ICICI Bank was down 0.88%, Tata Motors was down 0.83%, Infosys was down by 0.69%, Sterlite Industries was down 0.39% and HDFC Bank was down 0.36%.

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