US stocks kick off new week on strong note led by energy sector

Indian ADRs end mostly higher led by Wipro and Dr Reddy's

U.S. stocks ramped higher on Monday, 24 February 2014 boosted by M&A activity, an upbeat German confidence report and bets that the S&P 500's foray into new high ground could spur further buying. The stock market kicked off the new trading week on an upbeat note. Once the U.S. stock market started with a bullish bias, a fear of missing out on further upside helped fuel some renewed buying interest following Friday's lackluster session.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 105.83 points, or 0.7%, to end at 16,209.13. The Nasdaq added 29.56 points, or 0.7%, to close at 4,292.97. The S&P 500 rose 11.46 points, or 0.6% to finish at 1,847.71.

Seven of ten sectors posted gains with energy ending in the lead. Other than energy sector, financials and industrials outperformed while consumer discretionary and technology lagged. Dow components Chevron and ExxonMobil were Dow winners.

The tech sector lagged as big names, Cisco Systems, Qualcomm and Microsoft lagged.

The sector did see some M&A activity as TriQuint Semiconductor announced a merger with RF Micro Devices.

There was a Group of 20 economic and finance ministers meeting in Sydney, Australia, during the weekend. The group laid out a plan for the major industrial economies to continue with their aggressive monetary stimulus plans, while at the same time called for the emerging countries to restructure their economies to contain inflation. The proclamation was mostly ignored by world markets.

Asian and European stock markets were pressured Monday in part on reports Chinese banks have ratcheted back lending to commercial property developers. Traders and investors have become more concerned about slowing economic growth in China the past few months. China is the world's second-largest economy and the world's largest consumer of raw commodities.

U.S. economic data for released Monday included the Chicago Fed national activity index and the Texas manufacturing outlook survey. Neither report had much of an impact on the market place.

Gold and silver prices ended the U.S. day session solidly up and scored four-month highs on Monday, 24 February 2014 at Comex. Gold saw increasing safe-haven demand amid geopolitical concerns. A recent string of spotty economic data also kept traders interested in the precious metal.

Gold for April delivery rose $14.40, or 1.1%, to settle at $1,338 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. The settlement level was the highest for a most-active contract in last four months.

March silver also rose 27 cents, or 1.2%, to end at $22.05 an ounce, also the highest close since late October.

Crude Oil futures finished higher on Monday, 24 February 2014 at Nymex. But still prices closed below $103 a barrel in volatile trading. Oil prices finished higher as violence in the Middle East threatened the global supply outlook and data showed financial investors had returned in droves to the commodity.

Crude oil for April delivery rose 62 cents, or 0.6%, to end at $102.82 a barrel on Nymex after earlier tapping a low at $101.97 and a high of $103.45.

Treasuries posted modest gains with the benchmark 10-yr yield slipping one basis point to 2.74%.

Today's participation was above average as just over 830 million shares changed hands on the floor of the NYSE.

Indian ADRs ended mostly higher on Monday. In the IT space, Infosys rose 0.39% at $61.05 and Wipro rose 3.16% at $13.70. In the banking space, ICICI Bank advanced 0.73% at $34.65 and HDFC Bank gained 2.27% at $33.78. In the other sectors, Tata Motors was down 0.12% at $32.78 and Dr Reddy's Laboratories jumped 2.78% at $45.05.

Tomorrow, the Case-Shiller 20-city Index and the FHFA Housing Price Index for December will both be released at 9:00 ET while the February Consumer Confidence report will cross the wires at 10:00 ET.

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