Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Technology, Consumer Services and Healthcare sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.07%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.13%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.64%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), which rose 1.53% or 1.09 points to trade at 72.50 at the close. Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) added 1.52% or 0.47 points to end at 31.47 and Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) was up 1.39% or 2.16 points to 157.48 in late trade.
Biggest losers included The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV), which lost 1.16% or 1.51 points to trade at 128.18 in late trade. Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) declined 0.96% or 0.76 points to end at 78.21 and JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM) shed 0.84% or 0.77 points to 91.42.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were TripAdvisor Inc (NASDAQ:TRIP) which rose 6.22% to 42.18, Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:VRTX) which was up 3.53% to settle at 153.78 and Urban Outfitters Inc (NASDAQ:URBN) which gained 3.32% to close at 17.76.
The worst performers were NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ:NVDA) which was down 5.34% to 155.95 in late trade, Mylan Inc (NASDAQ:MYL) which lost 4.37% to settle at 30.88 and The AES Corporation (NYSE:AES) which was down 2.46% to 11.10 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were DryShips Inc (NASDAQ:DRYS) which rose 51.22% to 3.10, Forterra Inc (NASDAQ:FRTA) which was up 32.19% to settle at 4.64 and Chiasma Inc (NASDAQ:CHMA) which gained 27.59% to close at 1.85.
The worst performers were root9B Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:RTNB) which was down 50.86% to 2.0100 in late trade, Black Box Corporation (NASDAQ:BBOX) which lost 45.64% to settle at 4.05 and EnteroMedics Inc (NASDAQ:ETRM) which was down 39.58% to 2.0000 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1668 to 1449 and 113 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1317 rose and 1188 declined, 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 3.55% to 15.47.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.46% or 5.87 to $1295.97 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 0.43% or 0.21 to hit $48.80 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract rose 0.23% or 0.12 to trade at $52.02 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.44% to 1.1824, while USD/JPY fell 0.04% to 109.15.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.35% at 92.97.