New York, Aug 19 (IANS): The S&P 500 closed at a new record high on Tuesday, fully wiping out its losses triggered by the coronavirus pandemic.

The benchmark index increased 7.79 points, or 0.23 per cent, to end at 3,389.78, surpassing its previous record close on February 19. It hit an intraday all-time high of 3,395.06 earlier in the session, Xinhua reported.

The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 81.12 points, or 0.73 per cent, to 11,210.84, also a record close. However, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 66.84 points, or 0.24 per cent, to 27,778.07.

Shares of some big US tech names rallied, contributing to market gains. Amazon shares soared more than 4 per cent, while Google-parent Alphabet and Netflix climbed 2.6 per cent and 2 per cent, respectively.

Shares of Dow components Home Depot and Walmart both slipped despite strong earnings results.

Meanwhile, US-listed Chinese companies traded mostly higher, with eight of the top 10 stocks by weight in the S&P US Listed China 50 index ending the day on an upbeat note.

On the data front, US home construction starts jumped by 22.6 per cent to 1.496 million in July, the Department of Commerce reported on Tuesday. The reading exceeded market consensus.