Wall Street ekes out gains at the open

US stock indices opened mostly higher on Friday following earlier data from the world's largest economy, which showed dips in both flash manufacturing and services PMIs in June. 

US new home sales rose 2.9% in May to an annualized 610 thousand units, compared to a 7.9% drop to 593K in April, revised from a 11.4% slump to 569K, while analysts expected a smaller rise to 599K. 

Markets now await Federal Open Market Committee member Jerome Powell's speech later today, titled "Central Clearing and Liquidity" at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Symposium.

As of 03:29 GMT, Standard and Poor's 500 rose 0.05%, or 1.22 points to 2,435.69, while Dow Jones shed 0.06%, or 12.84 points to 21,384.45. 

Tech-heavy NASDAQ climbed 0.07%, or 4.32 points to 6,241.13.