US markets extend gains as home sales numbers drop in July

24 Aug 2013 Evaluate

The US markets extended their gains on Friday supported by a positive reaction to weak new home sales data. Though the week remained mixed for the major bourses but they managed to recover a major portion in last sessions. The Commerce Department reported a bigger than expected drop in new home sales in July as well as a substantial downward revision to the data for June. New home sales tumbled 13.4 percent to an annual rate of 394,000 in July from the revised June rate of 455,000. The data eased some concerns about the Federal Reserve scaling back its asset purchases at its September meeting.

Traders also took cues from big news from Microsoft, with the software giant surging up by 7.3 percent to a one-month closing high after the company announced that Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer has decided to retire within the next 12 months. The company’s Board of Directors appointed a special committee to direct the process of choosing Ballmer's successor.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up by 46.77 points or 0.31 percent at 15,010.51, the Nasdaq gained 19.09 points or 0.52 percent to 3,657.79 and the S&P 500 closed higher 6.54 points or 0.39 percent to 1,663.50.

All the Indian ADRs ended in green on Friday, HDFC Bank was up by 38%, ICICI Bank was up by 0.35%, Infosys was up by 0.73% and Tata Motors was up by 0.75%.

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