However, market gains capped as traders seemed reluctant to make more significant moves amid uncertainty about the near-term outlook for monetary policy. Adding to cautious sentiment, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Ukraine had presented Moscow with a draft peace deal that contained "unacceptable" elements, while the U.S. Senate voted to remove "most favored nation" trade status for Russia in one bill and ban oil imports in another.
At the close of trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average index advanced 87.06 points, or 0.25%, to 34,583.57. The S&P500 index climbed up 19.06 points, or 0.43%, to 4,500.21. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index grew 8.48 points, or 0.06%, to 13,897.30.
Declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE exchange by 1721 to 1587 and 136 closed unchanged. In the NASDAQ, 1931 issues advanced, 2799 issues declined, and 263 issues unchanged.
Total 7 of 11 major S&P 500 sector indexes advanced, with top performing sector were healthcare (up 1.85%), energy (up 1.36%), consumer staples (up 1.18%), and materials (up 0.63%), while bottom performing issues included real estate (down 0.86%) and communication services (down 0.73%).
Pfizer Inc jumped 4.3% after it said it would buy privately held ReViral Ltd in a deal worth as much as $525 million, its second acquisition in less than six months to boost its drug portfolio.
ECONOMIC NEWS: US Weekly Jobless Claims Dip To 166,000- US first-time claims for unemployment benefits dipped to 166,000 in the week ended April 2nd, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Thursday, a decrease of 5,000 from the previous week's revised level of 171,000. The Labor Department said the less volatile four-week moving average also slipped to 170,000, a decrease of 8,000 from the previous week's revised average of 178,000.
Among Indian ADR, INFOSYS fell 0.63% to $23.82, Wipro sank 1.95% to $7.55, HDFC Bank fell 0.38% to $62.65, Azure Power Global dropped 0.36% to $16.43, and Tata Motors fell 1.45% to $29.22. WNS Holdings added 0.16% to $86.57, Dr Reddy's Labs added 0.87% to $56.80, and ICICI Bank added 0.05% to $19.49.
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