US stocks edged higher overnight after stronger-than-expected employment and service sector reports lifted the mood on Wall Street.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 36.71 points (0.35 per cent) to 10,673.09.
The tech-rich Nasdaq composite index was up 14.03 points (0.61 per cent) to 2297.55 while the broader S&P 500 index rose 4.26 points (0.38 per cent) at 1124.72.
Stocks were buoyed by news that the US economy created more private jobs than expected in July.
Some 42,000 private-sector jobs were created following a revised June number of 19,000, payrolls firm ADP said ahead of a key government report on Friday on payrolls and unemployment.
Most economists had expected 25,000 private jobs to be established in July, the sixth consecutive monthly increase in hiring.
It also received a boost from news that the US services sector grew faster than expected in July, offering hope for a key sector of the US economy.
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The Institute of Supply Management said its non-manufacturing index rose to 54.3 per cent from 53.8 in June.
Any number above 50 per cent indicates growth in the sector that accounts for around two-thirds of US economic activity.
Posting gains for the seventh consecutive month, the non-manufacturing sector beat analysts estimates of a more modest expansion to 53 per cent.
Stocks were up across the board, with retailers Home Depot and chemicals firm DuPont both gaining more than one per cent.
Shares in Microsoft, Verizon and Intel were trading down.
Computer chip titan Intel on Wednesday announced it would settle an US antitrust probe to allow more competition in the market. Its shares were down one per cent.
The bond market fell. The yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond rose to 2.928 per cent from 2.914 per cent yesterday and that on the 30-year bond rose to 4.051 per cent from 4.046 per cent. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
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