NEW YORK, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks closed higher on Thursday, as Wall Street digested the fresh monetary decision of the European Central Bank (ECB), the latest development on U.S.-China trade scenario and a batch of economic data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 45.41 points, or 0.17 percent, to 27,182.45. The S&P 500 rallied 8.64 points, or 0.29 percent, to 3,009.57. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 24.79 points, or 0.30 percent, to 8,194.47.

The majority of the 30 blue-chip stocks in the Dow traded higher around market close, with shares of traditional trade bellwether 3M up 1.49 percent, the second best performer in the tally.

Semiconductor companies, whose revenues primarily rely on trade with China, also extended mild gains, as the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index edged higher by nearly 0.3 percent around the closing bell.

Nine of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors traded higher around market close, with the materials sector up over 0.7 percent, leading the winners.

The ECB decided to cut its main deposit rate by 10 basis points to -0.5 percent and unveiled a massive bond-buying program on Thursday to shore up the sagging euro zone economy.

Under the quantitative easing program, the bank will purchase 20 billion euros (21.9 billion U.S. dollars) worth of net asset per month.

China on Wednesday unveiled the first set of U.S. goods to be excluded from the first round of additional tariffs on U.S. products, which will help effectively deal with economic and trade frictions and ease enterprises' burdens, experts said.

The exemption, which covers two lists with 16 categories of goods, will be valid from Sept. 17, 2019, to Sept. 16, 2020.

On the economic front, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) increased 0.1 percent in August on a seasonally adjusted basis after rising 0.3 percent in July, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said Thursday.

Increases in the indexes for shelter and medical care were the major factors in the seasonally adjusted all items monthly increase, outweighing a decline in the energy index.

In the week ending Sept. 7, the initial jobless claims fell 15,000 to 204,000 from the previous week, the Labor Department said on Thursday.

The reading hit a nearly 5-month low. The 4-week moving average also declined to 212,500, down 4,250 from the previous week's level. Enditem

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