Trade hopes spark Wall Street rally

Wall Street’s main indexes rose on Friday, putting them on track to end the final trading day of the first quarter on a strong note, boosted by optimism over trade talks between the United States and China.

Trade-sensitive industrials rose 0.74 per cent, while chipmakers, which have a large revenue exposure to China, also gained, with the Philadelphia chip index jumping 1.29 per cent.

The broader technology sector gained 0.67 per cent higher.

The benchmark index has risen 12.8 per cent so far this quarter, its best performance since September 2009, reports Reuters.

However, the yield curve between three-month bills and 10-year notes turned slightly positive on Friday.

At 12:57 pm ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 152.24 points, or 0.59 per cent, at 25,869.70.

The S&P 500 was up 11.97 points, or 0.43 per cent, at 2,827.41 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 44.08 points, or 0.57 per cent, at 7,713.24.

Celgene Corp jumped 7.75 per cent after proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services backed rival drugmaker Bristol-Myers Squibb Co’s vote in favour of a proposed takeover of the company. Bristol-Myers fell 1.19 per cent.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.68-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.39-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 32 new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 43 new highs and 36 new lows.