Wall Street opens at record highs, buoyed by finance, tech

US stock indices opened the last session of this week at fresh record highs for Dow Jones, S&P 500 and NASDAQ Composite, amid market optimism for tax reforms championed by US president Donald Trump and his Republican Party. 

The Senate passed the budget bill for 2018 on Thursday, opening the door for Republicans to pass tax reforms without Democratic support. 

Otherwise, US existing home sales rose 0.7% in September to an annualized 5.39 million units, compared to a 1.7% decline in August to 5.35 million, while analysts expected a 0.9% drop to 5.30M, as the third quarter earnings season continue in earnest for major American banks and corporations. 

As of 03:51 GMT, Standard and Poor's 500 rose 0.27%, or 6.88 points to 2,568.98, while Dow Jones rose 0.28%, or 64.22 points to 23,227.26.

Tech-heavy NASDAQ added 0.30%, or 19.72 points to 6,624.91.