Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Technology, Consumer Services and Telecoms sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.44%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.77%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 1.49%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), which rose 10.47% or 40.28 points to trade at 425.04 at the close. Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) added 1.58% or 1.25 points to end at 80.24 and Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) was up 1.42% or 0.66 points to 47.10 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), which lost 2.82% or 3.85 points to trade at 132.88 in late trade. Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX) declined 2.70% or 2.33 points to end at 83.94 and Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) shed 2.44% or 3.95 points to 158.00.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) which rose 10.47% to 425.04, Kansas City Southern (NYSE:KSU) which was up 9.68% to settle at 171.85 and Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) which gained 8.17% to close at 253.67.
The worst performers were Under Armour Inc A (NYSE:UAA) which was down 8.12% to 10.52 in late trade, Newell Brands Inc (NASDAQ:NWL) which lost 7.45% to settle at 16.40 and Flowserve Corporation (NYSE:FLS) which was down 6.91% to 27.87 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Zion Oil & Gas Inc (NASDAQ:ZN) which rose 65.32% to 0.4500, Betterware De Mexico SA de CV (NASDAQ:BWMX) which was up 56.26% to settle at 13.00 and DarioHealth Corp (NASDAQ:DRIO) which gained 53.66% to close at 12.40.
The worst performers were Taoping Inc (NASDAQ:TAOP) which was down 58.18% to 3.6800 in late trade, Precipio Inc (NASDAQ:PRPO) which lost 55.14% to settle at 3.140 and Liminal BioSciences Inc (NASDAQ:LMNL) which was down 31.44% to 16.31 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1776 to 1274 and 89 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1893 fell and 913 advanced, while 63 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 1.21% to 24.46.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 1.49% or 28.90 to $1971.20 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 1.30% or 0.52 to hit $40.44 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract rose 0.90% or 0.39 to trade at $43.64 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.57% to 1.1779, while USD/JPY rose 1.06% to 105.83.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.46% at 93.435.