Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Technology, Basic Materials and Healthcare sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.88% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.70%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.83%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Boeing Co (NYSE:BA), which rose 4.10% or 12.17 points to trade at 308.84 at the close. Visa Inc (NYSE:V) added 2.39% or 2.78 points to end at 118.86 and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) was up 1.91% or 4.28 points to 228.73 in late trade.
Biggest losers included JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM), which lost 0.64% or 0.70 points to trade at 108.34 in late trade. Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) declined 0.54% or 0.61 points to end at 111.62 and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) shed 0.51% or 1.31 points to 255.52.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Western Union Company (NYSE:WU) which rose 5.91% to 20.60, Xilinx Inc (NASDAQ:XLNX) which was up 5.19% to settle at 74.15 and Electronic Arts Inc (NASDAQ:EA) which gained 4.85% to close at 112.39.
The worst performers were Range Resources Corporation (NYSE:RRC) which was down 3.68% to 16.76 in late trade, Johnson Controls International PLC (NYSE:JCI) which lost 3.59% to settle at 38.42 and Scana Corporation (NYSE:SCG) which was down 2.83% to 45.02 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Cytori Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:CYTX) which rose 73.75% to 0.4700, Tigenix NV (NASDAQ:TIG) which was up 72.00% to settle at 40.73 and My Size Inc (NASDAQ:MYSZ) which gained 68.15% to close at 1.66.
The worst performers were Ohr Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:OHRP) which was down 81.34% to 0.377 in late trade, Chinanet Online Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:CNET) which lost 38.97% to settle at 5.7000 and Kala Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:KALA) which was down 29.28% to 12.26 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1836 to 1255 and 126 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1445 rose and 1081 declined, while 120 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 0.33% to 9.19.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.02% or 0.20 to $1321.40 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February fell 0.69% or 0.43 to hit $61.58 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 0.50% or 0.34 to trade at $67.73 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.25% to 1.2037, while USD/JPY rose 0.29% to 113.08.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.13% at 91.72.