Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Healthcare and Technology sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.43%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.69%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.83%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX), which rose 2.05% or 2.45 points to trade at 122.03 at the close. Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) added 1.93% or 1.65 points to end at 87.16 and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) was up 1.62% or 3.93 points to 246.15 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA), which lost 6.43% or 4.58 points to trade at 66.61 in late trade. Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT) declined 1.07% or 1.06 points to end at 97.93 and Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) shed 0.70% or 0.36 points to 51.41.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Dentsply Sirona Inc (NASDAQ:XRAY) which rose 17.65% to 49.13, Gap Inc (NYSE:GPS) which was up 16.18% to settle at 29.51 and Stericycle Inc (NASDAQ:SRCL) which gained 15.81% to close at 51.63.
The worst performers were Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) which was down 6.43% to 66.61 in late trade, Kroger Company (NYSE:KR) which lost 4.47% to settle at 28.02 and Simon Property Group Inc (NYSE:SPG) which was down 3.09% to 175.57 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Bio Path Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:BPTH) which rose 196.92% to 7.720, Nanthealth LLC (NASDAQ:NH) which was up 63.50% to settle at 1.12 and China Internet Nationwide Financial Services Inc (NASDAQ:CIFS) which gained 45.09% to close at 3.25.
The worst performers were ImmunoGen Inc (NASDAQ:IMGN) which was down 46.82% to 2.51 in late trade, Intrexon Corp (NASDAQ:XON) which lost 36.51% to settle at 5.0600 and Nutanix Inc (NASDAQ:NTNX) which was down 32.72% to 33.70 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1894 to 1104 and 110 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1719 rose and 935 declined, while 66 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 8.99% to 13.57.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 1.65% or 21.65 to $1294.45 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April fell 2.53% or 1.45 to hit $55.77 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 2.14% or 1.42 to trade at $64.89 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.02% to 1.1377, while USD/JPY rose 0.01% to 111.92.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.35% at 96.382.