Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Technology, Utilities and Financials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.17%, while the S&P 500 index gained 1.61%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 1.97%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), which rose 3.51% or 5.12 points to trade at 151.03 at the close. Boeing Co (NYSE:BA) added 2.40% or 5.05 points to end at 215.11 and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) was up 2.29% or 7.99 points to 357.09 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Coca-Cola Co (NYSE:KO), which lost 0.47% or 0.28 points to trade at 59.44 in late trade. Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ) declined 0.39% or 0.15 points to end at 38.26 and Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW) shed 0.21% or 0.12 points to 58.32.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Cooper Companies Inc (NYSE:COO) which rose 7.30% to 351.81, Illumina Inc (NASDAQ:ILMN) which was up 7.11% to settle at 221.21 and Align Technology Inc (NASDAQ:ALGN) which gained 6.82% to close at 334.56.
The worst performers were Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE:HRL) which was down 2.87% to 40.63 in late trade, Costco Wholesale Corp (NASDAQ:COST) which lost 2.15% to settle at 475.26 and Lumen Technologies Inc (NYSE:LUMN) which was down 1.86% to 3.17 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were ObsEva SA (NASDAQ:OBSV) which rose 116.98% to 0.23, Kala Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:KALA) which was up 64.70% to settle at 16.75 and Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp III (NASDAQ:ETAO) which gained 48.20% to close at 2.26.
The worst performers were Praxis Precision Medicines Inc (NASDAQ:PRAX) which was down 65.87% to 1.00 in late trade, Veru Inc (NASDAQ:VERU) which lost 35.98% to settle at 2.42 and Secoo Holding Ltd (NASDAQ:SECO) which was down 31.51% to 1.00 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2468 to 588 and 99 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2502 rose and 1123 declined, while 171 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 5.62% to 18.49.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 1.10% or 20.25 to $1,860.75 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 2.10% or 1.64 to hit $79.80 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 1.38% or 1.17 to trade at $85.92 a barrel.
EUR/USD was unchanged 0.35% to 1.06, while USD/JPY fell 0.68% to 135.84.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.46% at 104.51.