Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Technology, Basic Materials and Oil & Gas sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.14%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.21%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.32%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Visa Inc (NYSE:V), which rose 1.04% or 1.15 points to trade at 111.97 at the close. DowDuPont Inc (NYSE:DWDP) added 0.79% or 0.56 points to end at 71.16 and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) was up 0.61% or 1.29 points to 212.51 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), which lost 0.45% or 0.62 points to trade at 137.39 in late trade. American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) declined 0.36% or 0.34 points to end at 93.48 and JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) shed 0.32% or 0.32 points to 98.32.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc (NYSE:DVA) which rose 3.18% to 57.15, Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) which was up 2.58% to settle at 1186.00 and Broadcom Ltd (NASDAQ:AVGO) which gained 2.55% to close at 282.38.
The worst performers were Signet Jewelers Ltd (NYSE:SIG) which was down 6.06% to 49.80 in late trade, Scana Corporation (NYSE:SCG) which lost 3.75% to settle at 41.86 and Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) which was down 2.80% to 55.88 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Marathon Patent Group Inc (NASDAQ:MARA) which rose 171.69% to 5.950, US Global Investors Inc (NASDAQ:GROW) which was up 59.42% to settle at 4.910 and Riot Blockchain Inc (NASDAQ:RIOT) which gained 47.59% to close at 23.6000.
The worst performers were Global Brokerage Inc Class A (NASDAQ:GLBR) which was down 29.12% to 0.41 in late trade, Medigus Ltd ADR (NASDAQ:MDGS) which lost 24.66% to settle at 1.680 and Integrated Media Technology Ltd (NASDAQ:IMTE) which was down 18.74% to 8.13 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1847 to 1155 and 132 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1398 rose and 1108 declined, while 129 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 2.13% to 9.67.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.32% or 4.16 to $1288.04 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in January rose 1.64% or 0.95 to hit $58.97 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 0.52% or 0.33 to trade at $63.88 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.72% to 1.1936, while USD/JPY rose 0.31% to 111.56.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.34% at 92.72.