US stocks ended sharply higher on Wednesday and the Nasdaq logged a record high close, led by a rebound in technology and healthcare stocks and optimism that Greece would avoid defaulting on its debt.
Investors said US stocks were oversold in the previous session, when concerns about Greece and foreign exchange pushed Wall Street to its steepest fall in three weeks.
"People felt yesterday (Tuesday) was an overreaction and I would agree," said Peter Jankovskis, co-chief investment officer at OakBrook Investments in Lisle, Illinois. "The fact that the market has been staying at its peaks for as long as it has, with only modest pullbacks, is fairly encouraging."
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 121.45 points, or 0.67 per cent, to end at 18,162.99 points. The S&P 500 gained 19.28 points, or 0.92 per cent, to 2,123.48 and the Nasdaq Composite added 73.84 points, or 1.47 per cent, to 5,106.59.
It was the S&P’s strongest day since May 14 and the Nasdaq’s strongest since late January, lifting it to its first record close since April 24. Nine of the 10 major S&P 500 sectors ended higher, with technology up 1.82 per cent and the health index up 1.13 percent.
Greece’s government said it was starting to draft an agreement with creditors including the European Union and the International Monetary Fund, but European officials quickly dismissed that as wishful thinking.
The rebuttal notwithstanding, market moves triggered by the Greek announcement mostly held into the end of the session.