Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Friday, as gains in the Utilities, Technology and Healthcare sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Financials, Telecoms and Consumer Services sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.11%, while the S&P 500 index added 0.04%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.09%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), which rose 1.18% or 0.40 points to trade at 34.16 at the close. Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) added 0.78% or 0.64 points to end at 82.50 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) was up 0.72% or 0.44 points to 61.20 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS), which lost 1.52% or 3.45 points to trade at 223.18 in late trade. Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) declined 1.13% or 1.09 points to end at 95.15 and American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) shed 0.91% or 0.66 points to 71.87.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Applied Materials Inc (NASDAQ:AMAT) which rose 4.45% to 31.44, Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE:NEM) which was up 4.03% to settle at 33.57 and eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) which gained 3.76% to close at 28.42.
The worst performers were PVH Corp (NYSE:PVH) which was down 5.15% to 102.43 in late trade, Alliance Data Systems Corporation (NYSE:ADS) which lost 4.15% to settle at 218.70 and Harley-Davidson Inc (NYSE:HOG) which was down 3.79% to 59.72 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Neovasc Inc (NASDAQ:NVCN) which rose 67.38% to 0.860, Vertex Energy Inc (NASDAQ:VTNR) which was up 30.48% to settle at 1.370 and Perfumania Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PERF) which gained 22.58% to close at 1.900.
The worst performers were Memorial Production Partners LP (NASDAQ:MEMP) which was down 31.41% to 0.480 in late trade, Sphere 3D Corp (NASDAQ:ANY) which lost 23.72% to settle at 0.595 and Yulong Eco-Materials Ltd (NASDAQ:YECO) which was down 19.64% to 0.900 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1678 to 1465 and 87 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1226 fell and 1223 advanced, while 168 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 0.21% to 14.04.
In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was up 0.68% or 8.00 to $1177.40 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 1.06% or 0.54 to hit $51.60 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 0.80% or 0.43 to trade at $54.37 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.09% to 1.0669, while USD/JPY fell 0.51% to 113.53.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.29% at 100.73.