On March 29, the Dow Jones Industrial Average managed a slim gain on Thursday while the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite Index shook off most of their earlier losses to end slightly lower. This was because of investors taking advantage of a selloff for buying blue chips that have been rallying throughout the quarter.

The Dow industrials closed up 0.2 percent after erasing losses in the last half hour of trading. The S&P 500 has gained almost 12 percent this quarter and was up 2.8 percent for the month and nearly 12 percent for the year.

"It's hard to take away the end-of-the-quarter price action. People are buying winning stocks, and the claims data, which was a bit shy of expectations, is still showing that we are at OK levels. That's enough to keep investors happy," said Nicholas Colas, chief market strategist at ConvergEx Group in New York.

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI rose 19.61 points, or 0.15 percent, to 13,145.82 at the close. But the Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX slipped 2.26 points, or 0.16 percent, to 1,403.28. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC shed 9.60 points, or 0.31 percent, to 3,095.36.