NewNASDAQ pierces 15-year record to finish at record high; Apple leads charge

The Nasdaq Composite, the US market index most closely associated with technology stocks, closed at an all-time high on Thursday, surpassing a 2000 record set just before the dotcom crash.

Its new record close of 5,056.06 capped a slow, unsteady climb since it touched a 2002 low of 1,114.11, that spanned an economic recession, the rise of biotech and social media and the explosive growth of mobile phones that has helped make Apple the most valuable company in the United States.

The Nasdaq traded as high as 5,073.091 on Thursday, led by shares of Apple, which has been among the biggest positive influences on the index in recent years. The index’s last record close of 5,048.62 was hit on March 10, 2000.

The benchmark S&P 500 index also set an intraday high, but closed shy of a new record. Rapid growth in biotechnology companies such as Gilead Sciences and social media firms like Facebook, driven by the popularity of mobile computing, also helped lift the Nasdaq to its current levels.

Strategists say there is still room for the Nasdaq to rise.

"Now that it’s making a new high, I don’t think it’s just going to stop. It has the potential to go up, absent some external event that I can’t predict. I think the companies look as though they ought to power through this environment," said Walter Price, senior portfolio manager and managing director of the AllianzGI Global Technology fund in San Francisco.