US markets have now gathered enough cues to move up with greater determination.
US stocks have moved higher after economic reports posted encouraging surprises that fuelled hopes the struggling recovery from recession is gaining traction.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 46.48 points (0.43 per cent) to 10,973.55, extending Thursday’s solid gains. The market was closed Friday to mark Good Friday ahead of the Easter weekend.
The tech-rich Nasdaq composite climbed 26.95 points (1.12 per cent) to 2,429.53 and the broad-market Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 9.33 points (0.79 per cent) at 1,187.43.
The blue-chip Dow set a fresh high close to the psychological 11,000-point barrier, last crossed on September 26, 2008, following the collapse of Lehman Brothers that sparked a global financial meltdown.
The Nasdaq closed at its highest peak since August 2008.
“Equity traders returned from the long holiday weekend in a fairly good mood following Friday’s solid gain in jobs to nonfarm payrolls and today’s unexpected jump in pending home sales and larger-than-expected improvement in the ISM Non-Manufacturing Index,” Charles Scwab & Co analysts said in a client note.
Pending home sales surged 8.2 per cent in February, the National Association of Realtors said in a report
suggesting further stabilisation in the troubled sector at the epicentre of the financial crisis that triggered global recession.