Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Utilities and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.29%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.17%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.04%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT), which rose 1.90% or 1.66 points to trade at 89.17 at the close. American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) added 1.29% or 1.22 points to end at 95.61 and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) was up 1.22% or 1.89 points to 156.46 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE), which lost 0.72% or 0.48 points to trade at 65.91 in late trade. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) declined 0.71% or 1.62 points to end at 227.86 and Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) shed 0.71% or 0.32 points to 45.01.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Ulta Beauty Inc (NASDAQ:ULTA) which rose 7.64% to 221.88, Brighthouse Financial Inc (NASDAQ:BHF) which was up 4.23% to settle at 54.73 and Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) which gained 4.13% to close at 106.45.
The worst performers were Tiffany & Co (NYSE:TIF) which was down 5.06% to 97.51 in late trade, Broadcom Ltd (NASDAQ:AVGO) which lost 4.81% to settle at 254.87 and Viacom B Inc (NASDAQ:VIAB) which was down 3.59% to 31.65 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Aemetis Inc (NASDAQ:AMTX) which rose 118.75% to 2.4500, Origin Agritech Limited (NASDAQ:SEED) which was up 27.00% to settle at 1.270 and Qualstar Corporation (NASDAQ:QBAK) which gained 24.95% to close at 11.4700.
The worst performers were Global Partner Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:PRPL) which was down 28.52% to 9.35 in late trade, Energy XXI Gulf Coast Inc (NASDAQ:EXXI) which lost 24.58% to settle at 4.0800 and FC Global Realty Inc (NASDAQ:FCRE) which was down 18.43% to 0.7423 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2042 to 1037 and 118 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1610 rose and 909 declined, while 137 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 5.24% to 15.72.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.32% or 4.20 to $1313.60 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 1.68% or 1.03 to hit $62.22 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 1.47% or 0.96 to trade at $66.08 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.16% to 1.2285, while USD/JPY fell 0.29% to 106.03.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.08% at 90.21.