Thaindian News

New York, April 1 (IANS) US stocks traded mixed in the last trading day of the first quarter, with blue chips achieving the best quarterly gains since 1998.

Investors were concerned that a possible inflation risk might hurt the US economic recovery as oil prices Thursday hit the highest level since September 2008, Xinhua reported.

The market stayed uneasy as issues such as the nuclear radiation in quake-hit Japan and the unrest in the Middle East and North Africa remained unsettled.

The CBOE Volatility Index, widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, fell below 18.

On the economic front, the US jobless data showed last week that the jobs market was on the track of improving. The Labour Department posted that initial claims for state unemployment benefits slipped 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 388,000, which was in line with analysts’ previous estimates.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said new orders for manufactured goods fell 0.1 percent to $446 billion, after an upwardly revised 3.3 percent gain in January.

As for stocks, basic materials still led the gainers Thursday. Transportation and energy sectors were among the biggest winners but financial shares were down 0.23 percent as the Federal Reserve Bank of New York rejected American International Group’s plan to repurchase a risky set of mortgage-backed securities late Wednesday.

AIG declined 2.52 percent Thursday, and the Bank of America, the other gauge stock of financial shares, closed with a 0.89 percent drop.

Overseas news stirred the US markets Thursday as euro zone inflation posted a higher-than-expected level of 2.6 percent in March, raising investors’ expectation that the European Central Bank would raise interest in the coming month.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 30.88 points, or 0.25 percent, to 12,319.73. The Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 2.43 points, or 0.18 percent, to 1325.83. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 4. 28 points, or 0.15 percent, to 2781.07.