Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Basic Materials and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.20%, while the S&P 500 index added 0.28%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.05%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX), which rose 1.62% or 1.54 points to trade at 96.33 at the close. Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) added 1.10% or 0.51 points to end at 46.87 and American Express Company (NYSE:AXP) was up 1.05% or 0.62 points to 59.50 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE), which lost 1.46% or 0.88 points to trade at 59.42 in late trade. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) declined 0.94% or 1.19 points to end at 125.68 and Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) shed 0.79% or 0.26 points to 32.50.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Southwestern Energy Company (NYSE:SWN) which rose 8.36% to 8.68, Range Resources Corporation (NYSE:RRC) which was up 6.33% to settle at 34.92 and Anadarko Petroleum Corp (NYSE:APC) which gained 5.55% to close at 48.29.
The worst performers were Gap Inc (NYSE:GPS) which was down 13.84% to 23.85 in late trade, Michael Kors Holdings Limited (NYSE:KORS) which lost 4.75% to settle at 51.19 and L Brands Inc (NYSE:LB) which was down 4.34% to 80.50 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were China HGS Real Estate Inc (NASDAQ:HGSH) which rose 51.08% to 2.810, Moko Social (NASDAQ:MOKO) which was up 39.46% to settle at 0.4400 and Steadymed Ltd (NASDAQ:STDY) which gained 34.39% to close at 4.65.
The worst performers were Viking Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:VKTX) which was down 37.31% to 1.21 in late trade, SeaChange International Inc (NASDAQ:SEAC) which lost 31.29% to settle at 3.82 and Clovis Oncology Inc (NASDAQ:CLVS) which was down 17.74% to 15.77 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2468 to 867 and 30 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1422 rose and 1146 declined, while 82 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 5.01% to 15.35.
In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was up 0.36% or 4.50 to $1242.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 6.12% or 2.28 to hit $39.54 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 5.93% or 2.34 to trade at $41.77 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.17% to 1.1397, while USD/JPY fell 0.05% to 108.17.
The US Dollar Index was down 0.28% at 94.24.