Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Consumer Goods and Telecoms sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.48%, while the S&P 500 index added 0.34%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.28%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK), which rose 3.65% or 2.20 points to trade at 62.53 at the close. Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) added 3.25% or 2.75 points to end at 87.45 and International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) was up 2.24% or 3.74 points to 170.55 in late trade.
Biggest losers included General Electric Company (NYSE:GE), which lost 2.18% or 0.68 points to trade at 30.53 in late trade. Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) declined 0.65% or 0.44 points to end at 67.18 and American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) shed 0.64% or 0.49 points to 76.20.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Skyworks Solutions Inc (NASDAQ:SWKS) which rose 13.01% to 88.67, CF Industries Holdings Inc (NYSE:CF) which was up 6.05% to settle at 34.20 and Qorvo Inc (NASDAQ:QRVO) which gained 4.65% to close at 61.02.
The worst performers were Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY) which was down 11.28% to 49.23 in late trade, Transdigm Group Incorporated (NYSE:TDG) which lost 9.87% to settle at 226.90 and Endo International PLC (NASDAQ:ENDP) which was down 4.34% to 12.34 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Globus Maritime Ltd (NASDAQ:GLBS) which rose 31.79% to 9.7000, Transgenomi (NASDAQ:TBIO) which was up 30.30% to settle at 0.8600 and Cartesian I (NASDAQ:CRTN) which gained 33.64% to close at 1.430.
The worst performers were Naked Brand Group Inc (NASDAQ:NAKD) which was down 20.80% to 1.679 in late trade, Pluristem Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:PSTI) which lost 17.86% to settle at 1.1500 and Affimed NV (NASDAQ:AFMD) which was down 16.28% to 1.800 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2067 to 1128 and 45 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1507 rose and 991 declined, while 127 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 9.47% to 11.57.
In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was up 0.51% or 6.10 to $1207.60 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 2.05% or 1.07 to hit $53.19 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 2.36% or 1.28 to trade at $55.44 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.28% to 1.0695, while USD/JPY fell 0.27% to 114.55.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.29% at 100.81.