US: Stocks open higher as 1st quarter winds down

[NEW YORK] Wall Street stocks opened slightly higher Thursday as investors prepared to close the books on a tumultuous quarter that saw stocks fall sharply before staging a rally.

Five minutes into trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 17,750.70, up 24.04 points (0.14 per cent).

The broad-based S&P 500 edged up 0.69 (0.03 per cent) to 2,064.64, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.85 (0.04 per cent) to 4,871.14.

US stocks tumbled through the first six weeks of 2016, with the S&P 500 falling below 1,850 on worries about slowing global growth, diving oil prices and a Federal Reserve plan to lift interest rates.

But both the Dow and S&P 500 were braced for modest quarterly gains after stocks rallied starting in mid-February on higher oil prices and the Fed's signals that rates would not be raised anytime soon.

AFP