Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Healthcare, Technology and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.10% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.31%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.74%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), which rose 2.61% or 4.39 points to trade at 172.50 at the close. Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) added 1.25% or 0.69 points to end at 56.06 and Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) was up 1.07% or 0.59 points to 55.71 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), which lost 1.61% or 0.76 points to trade at 46.34 in late trade. DowDuPont Inc (NYSE:DWDP) declined 1.22% or 0.88 points to end at 71.16 and International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) shed 1.15% or 1.77 points to 151.58.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ:QCOM) which rose 12.71% to 61.81, NRG Energy Inc (NYSE:NRG) which was up 6.35% to settle at 27.62 and Dentsply Sirona Inc (NASDAQ:XRAY) which gained 5.95% to close at 64.80.
The worst performers were CenturyLink Inc (NYSE:CTL) which was down 6.24% to 16.37 in late trade, Discovery Communications C Inc (NASDAQ:DISCK) which lost 5.35% to settle at 15.39 and American International Group Inc (NYSE:AIG) which was down 4.59% to 62.00 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Diana Containerships Inc (NASDAQ:DCIX) which rose 348.40% to 11.2100, Top Ships Inc (NASDAQ:TOPS) which was up 67.05% to settle at 0.7200 and EV Energy Partners LP (NASDAQ:EVEP) which gained 41.26% to close at 1.090.
The worst performers were GenMark Diagnostics Inc (NASDAQ:GNMK) which was down 41.32% to 4.26 in late trade, The KEYW Holding Corporation (NASDAQ:KEYW) which lost 33.29% to settle at 5.17 and ENGlobal Corporation (NASDAQ:ENG) which was down 25.62% to 0.9000 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1613 to 1441 and 163 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1293 fell and 1231 advanced, while 141 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 8.36% to 9.10.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.54% or 6.92 to $1271.18 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 2.11% or 1.15 to hit $55.69 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 2.52% or 1.53 to trade at $62.15 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.40% to 1.1611, while USD/JPY fell 0.02% to 114.06.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.20% at 94.81.