US Market hits record on upbeat economic data

The US stocks finished session firmly in positive territory on Friday, 21 August 2020, with the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 hit a record high, after the release of a report from IHS Markit showing U.S. business activity expanded at the fastest pace in over a year in the month of August. Adding to the positive sentiment, the National Association of Realtors released a report showing U.S. home sales rose at a record pace for a second straight month in July and home prices hit all-time highs.

At closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index advanced 190.60 points, or 0.69%, to 27,930.33. The S&P 500 index added 11.65 points, or 0.34%, to 3,397.16. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index rose 46.85 points, or 0.42%, to 11,311.80. For the week, the tech-heavy Nasdaq soared by 2.7% and the S&P 500 advanced by 0.7%, while Dow was nearly flat.

The IHS Markit flash composite index of purchasing managers at manufacturers and service providers climbed to an eighteen-month high of 54.7 in August from 50.3 in July. The increase by the index came as the IHS Markit reading on manufacturing activity reached a nineteen-month high, while the reading on service sector activity indicated growth for the first time since January.

ECONOMIC NEWS: US Existing Home Sales Continue To Soar In July-US existing home sales continued to soar in the month of July, the National Association of Realtors revealed in a report released on Friday. NAR said existing home sales skyrocketed by a record 24.7% to an annual rate of 5.86 million in July after spiking by 20.2% to a revised rate of 4.70 million in June. With the continued surge, existing home sales in July were up by 8.7% compared to the same month a year ago. The report said the median existing home price was $304,100 in July, up 3.3% from $294,500 in June and up 8.5% from $280,400 a year ago. NAR noted this is the first time the national median home price breached the $300,000 level. NAR also said total housing inventory fell by 2.6% to 1.50 million units at the end of July from 1.54 million units at the end of June and is down 21.1% year-over-year. The unsold inventory represents 3.1 months of supply at the current sales rate, down from 3.9 months in June and 4.2 months in July of 2019.

Among Indian ADR, WNS Holdings fell 0.44% to $65.69, INFOSYS shed 1.72% to $12.60, Azure Power Global fell 1.85% to $22.81, Vedanta shed 1.15% to $6.87, Wipro fell 0.47% to $4.22, and Tata Motors sank 1.22% to $8.12. ICICI Bank was up 1.19% to $10.17, HDFC Bank was up 1.43% to $48.40, and Dr Reddys Labs rose 0.65% to $60.04.

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