U.S. shares higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.80%

© Reuters. U.S. shares higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.80%

Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Healthcare, Technology and Telecoms sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.80% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.77%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.73%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH), which rose 5.30% or 13.57 points to trade at 269.40 at the close. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) added 3.04% or 3.98 points to end at 134.94 and Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) was up 2.00% or 0.73 points to 37.28 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS), which lost 1.69% or 2.48 points to trade at 144.67 in late trade. Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT) declined 1.48% or 1.78 points to end at 118.87 and The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV) shed 0.28% or 0.38 points to 133.57.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Applied Materials Inc (NASDAQ:AMAT) which rose 8.95% to 62.06, Anthem Inc (NYSE:ANTM) which was up 5.61% to settle at 297.82 and Humana Inc (NYSE:HUM) which gained 5.52% to close at 335.55.

The worst performers were CenterPoint Energy Inc (NYSE:CNP) which was down 4.53% to 25.48 in late trade, Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE:WHR) which lost 3.74% to settle at 144.36 and Corteva Inc (NYSE:CTVA) which was down 3.41% to 25.4800 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Senmiao Technology Ltd (NASDAQ:AIHS) which rose 154.82% to 1.07, TKK Symphony Acquisition Corporation (NASDAQ:TKKS) which was up 65.63% to settle at 10.22 and Akerna Corp (NASDAQ:KERN) which gained 56.30% to close at 5.94.

The worst performers were resTORbio Inc (NASDAQ:TORC) which was down 86.29% to 1.09 in late trade, Yield10 Bioscience Inc (NASDAQ:YTEN) which lost 44.55% to settle at 0.150 and Agile Thrpe (NASDAQ:AGRX) which was down 37.40% to 1.49 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1762 to 1041 and 114 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1532 rose and 1112 declined, while 90 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 7.66% to 12.05 a new 6-month low.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.32% or 4.65 to $1468.75 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 1.96% or 1.11 to hit $57.88 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 1.70% or 1.06 to trade at $63.34 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.29% to 1.1053, while USD/JPY rose 0.33% to 108.75.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.17% at 97.857.