Dow nears 25,000 after strong U.S. private hiring data

REUTERS - Wall Street's major indexes opened at record levels on Thursday, with the Dow Jones index only a couple of points away from breaching 25,000-mark for the first time as strong U.S. private hiring data added to the bullish sentiment.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 65.08 points, or 0.26 percent, to 24,987.76. The S&P 500 gained 6.72 points, or 0.247691 percent, to 2,719.78. The Nasdaq Composite added 22.88 points, or 0.32 percent, to 7,088.41.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)