Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Consumer Goods, Healthcare and Telecoms sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.43% to hit a new 1-month high, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.46%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.34%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were General Electric Company (N:GE), which rose 3.39% or 0.95 points to trade at 28.98 at the close. Merck & Company Inc (N:MRK) added 1.50% or 0.76 points to end at 51.48 and Nike Inc (N:NKE) was up 1.30% or 1.68 points to 130.47 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Caterpillar Inc (N:CAT), which lost 1.62% or 1.15 points to trade at 69.68 in late trade. Wal-Mart Stores Inc (N:WMT) declined 0.74% or 0.44 points to end at 58.89 and Apple Inc (O:AAPL) shed 0.73% or 0.82 points to 111.04.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Mattel Inc (O:MAT) which rose 6.04% to 23.89, Garmin Ltd (O:GRMN) which was up 5.61% to settle at 34.09 and Yum! Brands Inc (N:YUM) which gained 4.17% to close at 72.16.
The worst performers were Quanta Services Inc (N:PWR) which was down 28.50% to 18.74 in late trade, Kansas City Southern (N:KSU) which lost 10.85% to settle at 87.37 and Genworth Financial Inc (N:GNW) which was down 7.83% to 5.06 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were China HGS Real Estate Inc (O:HGSH) which rose 37.35% to 2.280, QKL Stores Inc (O:QKLS) which was up 30.93% to settle at 1.270 and Neovasc Inc (O:NVCN) which gained 30.34% to close at 5.80.
The worst performers were Zafgen Inc (O:ZFGN) which was down 50.71% to 10.36 in late trade, Tantech Holdings Ltd (O:TANH) which lost 45.64% to settle at 4.55 and Northwest Biotherapeutics Inc (O:NWBO) which was down 29.34% to 4.190 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1320 to 1213 and 2 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1323 fell and 1180 advanced, while 70 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 5.17% to 15.22 a new 1-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was down 0.99% or 11.80 to $1175.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 1.84% or 0.85 to hit $47.23 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 1.44% or 0.71 to trade at $50.45 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.32% to 1.1351, while USD/JPY rose 0.48% to 119.46.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.32% at 94.76.