US Market rebounds on bargain hunting

The US stock market finished volatile session higher on Thursday, 24 February 2022, as long term investors chased for recently beaten down stocks, in response to the announcement of new sanctions against Russia after its missiles and airstrikes hit dozens of cities across Ukraine.

At the close of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index advanced 92.07 points, or 0.28%, to 33,223.83. The S&P500 index was up 63.20 points, or 1.5%, to 4,288.70. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index grew 436.10 points, or 3.34%, to 13,473.59.

The Nasdaq has tumbled more than 15% so far this year, while the S&P 500 confirmed a correction in the previous session when the index ended down more than 10% from its Jan. 3 closing record high.

Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE exchange by 1941 to 1483 and 133 closed unchanged. In the NASDAQ, 2947 issues advanced, 1947 issues declined, and 219 issues unchanged.

Total 7 of 11 major S&P 500 sector indexes inclined, with top performing issues were information technology (up 3.47%), communication services (up 3.1%), consumer discretionary (up 2.54%), and real estate (up 1.78%), while bottom performing sectors included consumer staples (down 1.7%), financials (down 1.2%), and energy (down 0.9%).

The Wall Street suffered selloff in the early trade as the fears of a Russian invasion of Ukraine became a reality, with Russian Vladimir Putin declaring war on the neighbouring country late Wednesday night. Rather than focusing on contested regions in the eastern part of the country as some had expected, Putin has launched an all-out invasion of Ukraine.

But, the US indexes staged a stunning turnaround over the course of the trading session following a Thursday afternoon address by President Biden, who announced new sanctions on Russian elites and banks. After consulting counterparts from the Group of Seven nations, President Biden announced measures to impede Russia's ability to do business in the world's major currencies, along with sanctions against banks and state-owned enterprises. Russian President Vladimir Putin's "aggression in Ukraine will end up costing Russia dearly, economically and strategically," said Mr. Biden.

The invasion has heightened the pressure on a global economy already reeling from snarled supply chains and some of the highest inflation in years, with Europe likely to bear the brunt of the economic impact.

Investors were also concerned about the surging inflation and a Federal Reserve March meeting to signal hike in interest rates. FED meeting is scheduled for March 15-16 and the probability in the current context is a quarter-percentage point rate hike next month.

Among Indian ADR, INFOSYS fell 2.11% to $22.24, Wipro fell 2.58% to $7.18, HDFC Bank fell 1.9% to $64.77, ICICI Bank fell 2% to $19.24, Tata Motors fell 5.4% to $29.36, WNS Holdings sank 1.4% to $82.69, and Dr Reddys Labs fell 2.1% to $54.31. Azure Power Global added 8% to $14.89.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News