US Market starts week with firm note

The US share market recouped losses late afternoon to finish session higher on Monday, 28 March 2022, as hopes about a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine after both countries are set to resume diplomatic talks in Turkey on Tuesday. However, market gains capped amid concerns about inflation and imminent monetary tightening by the Federal Reserve.

At the close of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index advanced by 94.65 points, or 0.27%, to 34,955.89. The S&P500 index grew by 32.46 points, or 0.71%, to 4,575.52. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index was up 185.60 points, or 1.31%, to 14,354.90.

Declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE exchange by 1706 to 1643 and 152 closed unchanged. In the NASDAQ, 2298 issues advanced, 2468 issues declined, and 245 issues unchanged.

Total 8 of 11 major S&P 500 sector indexes inclined, with top performing sector were consumer discretionary (up 2.67%), real estate (up 1.28%), information technology (up 1.23%), and healthcare (up 0.74%), while bottom performing issues included energy (down 2.56%) and materials (down 0.46%).

Russia and Ukraine are set to resume diplomatic talks in Turkey on Tuesday. Russia has reportedly signaled that it may scale down its war and aims to concerntrate on eastern Ukraine. Ukraine President Zelenskyy also said he wants to make a deal with Moscow over Sonbas and he is willing to discuss adopting a neutral status too.

In company news, Tesla Inc. shares soared 8% following an announcement from the company that it would seek investor approval for a stock split.

Shares in Apple rose 0.5% after a report said the company was planning to cut iPhone and AirPod output amid a drop in demand due to high inflation.

Crude oil prices tumbled amid concerns about the outlook for energy demand after Shanghai decided to impose fresh lockdown restrictions to curb the spread of the Covid-19 infections. The Brent crude price fell by US$8.17 a barrel or 6.8% to US$112.48 a barrel. The US Nymex crude price fell by US$7.94 or 7.0% to US$105.96 a barrel.

The gold futures price fell by US$14.40 or 0.7% to US$1,939.80 an ounce. Spot gold was trading near US$1,920 an ounce at the US close.

Among Indian ADR, HDFC Bank fell 0.02% to $60.27, WNS Holdings fell 0.48% to $84.21, Dr Reddy's Labs fell 1.81% to $55.23, and INFOSYS fell 0.04% to $24.72. ICICI Bank added 2.03% to $18.56, Wipro added 0.25% to $7.92, Tata Motors grew 0.49% to $28.54, and Azure Power Global added 0.05% to $18.69.

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