US: Shares higher; trade cautious ahead of holiday

[NEW YORK] US stocks edged up in opening action Thursday as traders took a cautious stance with markets to be closed on Friday for the Easter weekend.

Data on US trade in February and initial claims for unemployment last week showed signs of strength in the economy.

But it was not clear how that would translate into the Labour Department's March jobs report to be released on Friday, and traders will not have much chance to react to that until the beginning of next week.

Five minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 12.31 points (0.07 per cent) at 17,710.49.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 1.62 (0.08 per cent) at 2,061.31, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite rose 6.50 (0.13 per cent) to 4,886.73.

AFP