LIVE MARKETS-Wall Street indexes climb with tech in charge

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WALL STREET INDEXES ABOUND WITH RECORDS, TECH IN CHARGE

U.S. equity indexes finished higher on Thursday with tech-heavy Nasdaq .IXIC leading gains and posting a record closing high. The technology sector .SPLRCT provided the biggest boost by far to the S&P 500 .SPX, which also registered a record close, as did the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI.

The broad gains came a day after the U.S. Federal Reserve cut interest rates for the first time this year and signaled that there would be more cuts to come.

The easing of monetary policy led to a sharp outperformance in small caps, which are particularly sensitive to interest rate levels as they depend a lot on borrowing. The Russell 2000 .RUT closed up 2.5% and registering its first record closing high since November 2021.

However adding a note of caution, oil prices settled down about 0.8%. While lower borrowing costs typically boost demand for oil and push prices higher, traders remained worried about the U.S. economic outlook.

Among the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes, only seven gained ground, with tech up 1.4% and AI-chip leader and market heavyweight Nvidia NVDA.O providing most of the boost followed by Intel INTC.O , which ended up 22% on the day after they announced a deal. The Philadelphia semiconductor index .SOX outperformed with a 3.6% advance.

The next biggest gainer was from industrials .SPLRCI, which added 1.1% while the rest paled in comparison.

The biggest sector laggard was defensive consumer staples .SPLRCS, which fell 1% on the day with Monster Beverage MNST.O and tobacco companies Philip Morris PM.N and Altria MO.N its biggest decliners.

Here is your closing snapshot:

(Sinéad Carew)

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