The US markets ending a choppy trading session edged higher on Wednesday, having pared most of the gains following a better-than-expected report on new home sales. The sales of new single-family homes started 2014 with surprising strength, with January posting the fastest pace in more than five years. Home sales jumped 9.6% in January to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 468,000, hitting the highest level since July 2008. The government also upwardly revised December’s pace to 427,000. Meanwhile, the new Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen will walk back up Capitol Hill on Thursday to talk to the Senate Banking Committee about the economic outlook and monetary policy. As in her first appearance before the House Financial Services panel, Yellen is expected to avoid talking about the central bank’s next steps. Yellen is likely to be pressed on whether the economy is slowing down or if the data is just being impacted by numerous snow storms.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 18.75 points or 0.12 percent, to 16,198.41. The Nasdaq Composite was up by 4.47 points or 0.10 percent, to 4,292.06 and the S&P 500 gained 0.04 points, to close at 1,845.16.
The Indian ADRs closed mostly in green on Wednesday; Dr. Reddy’s Lab was up 2.22%, Tata Motors was up by 1.06%, Infosys was up by 0.44% and Wipro was up 0.42%. On the other hand, ICICI Bank was down by 0.03%.