NEW YORK: US stocks shrugged off a weak start to climb higher on Tuesday, as Intel boosted technology stocks and pushed the Dow Jones Industrial Average to a record high.Intel jumped 5.1 per cent, but analysts could not find a new trigger, with some suggesting that the stock was reviving Fridays rally after the chipmaker assuaged concerns over its business.The Philadelphia SE semiconductor index climbed 1.20 per cent, its strongest gain in what is set to be a four-day rally, while technology stocks rose 0.48 per cent.Eight of the 11 major SP sectors were higher, compared with only three gainers earlier in the session.
The materials index was up 0.53 per cent, while the communication services index rose 0.19 per cent.Were having a relatively benign market on either side of the spectrum, but specifically in terms of rotation were having a largecap play today and you are seeing small caps down modestly, said Ryan Larson, head of US equity trading at RBC Global Asset Management in Chicago.At 21.30 IST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.49 per cent, at 26,780.56, easing after hitting a record high of 26,793.35.
The SP 500 was up 0.16 per cent, at 2,929.15, while the Nasdaq was little changed at 8,041.40.But, underscoring the influence of large-cap stocks, declining issues outnumbered advancers for a 1.29-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1.71-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.The smallcap Russell 2000 index was off 0.59 per cent.
Smaller names had been seen as more immune to trade pressures and had dropped on Monday after the NAFTA deal was salvaged.Also holding on to their losses were financials, which shed 0.3 per cent as US lenders followed their Italian peers lower after a senior lawmaker in one of Italys ruling parties said most of the countrys problems would be resolved if it readopted a national currency.Those comments, which added to concerns over Italys coalitions proposal last week of a budget with a higher-than-expected deficit target, pressured world stocks and weighed on Wall Street earlier in the day.