Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Technology, Industrials and Healthcare sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.32%, while the S&P 500 index added 0.35%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.60%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE), which rose 1.60% or 0.85 points to trade at 53.91 at the close. Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) added 1.49% or 1.60 points to end at 108.98 and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) was up 1.48% or 3.58 points to 244.90 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ), which lost 1.48% or 0.80 points to trade at 53.26 in late trade. Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) declined 1.37% or 0.95 points to end at 68.26 and EI du Pont de Nemours and Company (NYSE:DD) shed 0.58% or 0.43 points to 73.38.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Illumina Inc (NASDAQ:ILMN) which rose 5.15% to 141.49, The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES) which was up 3.59% to settle at 11.82 and eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) which gained 3.47% to close at 31.05.
The worst performers were Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:REGN) which was down 5.84% to 358.68 in late trade, Endo International PLC (NASDAQ:ENDP) which lost 5.70% to settle at 16.54 and Newmont Mining Corporation (NYSE:NEM) which was down 3.14% to 35.42 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were EnteroMedics Inc (NASDAQ:ETRM) which rose 131.49% to 9.1900, VivoPower International PLC (NASDAQ:VVPR) which was up 29.32% to settle at 5.69 and Pernix Therapeutics Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:PTX) which gained 28.65% to close at 2.933.
The worst performers were COPsync Inc (NASDAQ:COYN) which was down 33.01% to 0.6900 in late trade, Delcath Systems Inc (NASDAQ:DCTH) which lost 29.34% to settle at 0.5800 and Avinger Inc (NASDAQ:AVGR) which was down 15.38% to 3.30 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1733 to 1490 and 38 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1351 fell and 1140 advanced, while 131 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 3.34% to 11.28.
In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was down 0.72% or 8.50 to $1172.80 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February fell 0.07% or 0.04 to hit $53.72 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 0.09% or 0.05 to trade at $56.84 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.68% to 1.0532, while USD/JPY rose 1.45% to 117.03.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.79% at 102.19.