US stocks moved higher on Wednesday on encouraging data from the US real estate market. Existing home sales soared to two-year high last month while construction of single-family houses attained the fastest pace in more than two years. US equities were also supported by BoJ announcement of additional stimulus measures to boost economy. The S&P 500 Index gained 0.12% to close at 1,461.05. Seven out of ten sectors within the index climbed. The top-performers were consumer services and telecommunications. DeVry, Carnival Corp and Darden Restaurants added 0.26, 0.32% and 0.82%, respectively. Among telecommunications, AT&T, MetroPCS Communications and Sprint Nextel 0.27%, 5.21% and 7.13%, respectively. Autozone jumped 3.35% after announcing a 7.4% increase in profits in Q4. On the downside were oil and gas companies falling 0.94%. with Alpha Natural Resources and Apache Corp slumping 3.17% and 1.59% amid lower crude oil prices.