Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Oil & Gas and Utilities sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.48% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.36%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.33%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), which rose 2.50% or 2.35 points to trade at 96.31 at the close. Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) added 1.65% or 0.91 points to end at 56.22 and Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) was up 1.19% or 1.95 points to 166.23 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO), which lost 1.62% or 0.67 points to trade at 40.58 in late trade. Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) declined 1.53% or 1.06 points to end at 68.02 and Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) shed 0.79% or 0.70 points to 87.97.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Activision Blizzard Inc (NASDAQ:ATVI) which rose 18.88% to 47.23, CBRE Group Inc (NYSE:CBG) which was up 7.70% to settle at 34.00 and News Corp A (NASDAQ:NWSA) which gained 7.26% to close at 13.29.
The worst performers were Cerner Corporation (NASDAQ:CERN) which was down 4.42% to 51.50 in late trade, Envision Healthcare Corp (NYSE:EVHC) which lost 3.43% to settle at 68.44 and Teradata Corporation (NYSE:TDC) which was down 3.24% to 31.68 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were KBS Fashion Group Ltd (NASDAQ:KBSF) which rose 175.19% to 10.8700, Plug Power Inc (NASDAQ:PLUG) which was up 38.82% to settle at 1.180 and Sierra Wireless Inc (NASDAQ:SWIR) which gained 31.10% to close at 24.45.
The worst performers were Biostage Inc (NASDAQ:BSTG) which was down 40.27% to 0.300 in late trade, Wins Finance Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:WINS) which lost 22.84% to settle at 297.00 and iPass Inc (NASDAQ:IPAS) which was down 21.25% to 1.2600 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2286 to 933 and 45 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1652 rose and 834 declined, while 146 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 0.46% to 10.83.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.14% or 1.75 to $1235.05 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 1.49% or 0.79 to hit $53.79 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 1.80% or 1.00 to trade at $56.63 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.23% to 1.0634, while USD/JPY rose 0.10% to 113.36.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.12% at 100.78.