US markets close higher despite Iraq fears

US equity indices, resuming their up-ward momentum, ended slightly in the green terrain on Friday. The slim gains on the day partly offset the notable pullback seen in the two previous sessions. Though, the major indices saw some volatility in the last leg of trade but managed to close in positive territory. Some support came after Intel said it now expects second quarter revenues of $13.7 billion, plus or minus $300 million, up from its previous guidance of $13 billion, plus or minus $500 million citing stronger than expected demand for business PCs. However, gains remained capped on the up-side as escalating tensions in Iraq added to investor concerns about valuations and sluggish economic growth. 

On the economic front, the producer-price index for May slipped 0.2 per cent on the month, missing forecasts for a 0.2 per cent rise. Excluding volatile food and energy components, core PPI was flat, versus expectations of a 0.1 per cent increase. Meanwhile, Thomson Reuters and the University of Michigan released a separate report showing an unexpected deterioration in U.S. consumer sentiment in the month of June. The report showed that the preliminary reading on the consumer sentiment index for June came in at 81.2 compared to the final May reading of 81.9. Economists had been expecting the index to climb to 83.0.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 41.55 points or 0.25 percent, to 16,775.74, the Nasdaq Composite rose 13.02 points or 0.20 percent, to 4,310.65 and the S&P 500 was up by 6.05 points or 0.31 percent, to close at 1,936.16. 

The Indian ADRs closed mostly in red on Friday; ICICI Bank was down 1.97%, HDFC Bank was down 1.14%, Tata Motors was down by 0.94% and Dr. Reddy’s Lab was down by 0.40%. On the flip side, Infosys was up by 0.29%.