Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Utilities, Technology and Consumer Goods sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.01%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.01%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.20%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were American Express Company (NYSE:AXP), which rose 1.70% or 2.08 points to trade at 124.72 at the close. Visa Inc Class A (NYSE:V) added 1.37% or 2.50 points to end at 185.14 and Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) was up 1.36% or 3.69 points to 275.15 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW), which lost 2.15% or 1.17 points to trade at 53.28 in late trade. Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM) declined 1.58% or 1.11 points to end at 69.23 and Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) shed 1.33% or 4.62 points to 341.67.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were PPL Corporation (NYSE:PPL) which rose 6.07% to 35.64, CenterPoint Energy Inc (NYSE:CNP) which was up 4.51% to settle at 25.94 and Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ:ADBE) which gained 3.92% to close at 317.94.
The worst performers were Hanesbrands Inc (NYSE:HBI) which was down 5.14% to 14.40 in late trade, Coty Inc (NYSE:COTY) which lost 5.06% to settle at 11.08 and L Brands Inc (NYSE:LB) which was down 4.22% to 17.70 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were China Ceramics Co Ltd (NASDAQ:CCCL) which rose 32.50% to 1.0600, Sarepta Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:SRPT) which was up 31.43% to settle at 132.050 and Adial Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ADIL) which gained 30.95% to close at 2.20.
The worst performers were Aethlon Medical Inc (NASDAQ:AEMD) which was down 47.85% to 1.040 in late trade, Gridsum Holding Inc (NASDAQ:GSUM) which lost 30.14% to settle at 1.53 and Aquestive Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:AQST) which was down 21.34% to 5.27 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1433 to 1370 and 103 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1437 fell and 1217 advanced, while 80 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 9.40% to 12.63.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.54% or 7.90 to $1480.20 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 1.00% or 0.59 to hit $59.77 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract rose 1.14% or 0.73 to trade at $64.93 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.05% to 1.1122, while USD/JPY rose 0.04% to 109.33.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.21% at 97.178.