U.S. shares higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.29%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.29% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index added 0.37%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.94%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT ), which rose 2.37% or 1.66 points to trade at 71.76 at the close. Boeing Co (NYSE: BA ) added 1.55% or 2.91 points to end at 190.23 and Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL ) was up 1.48% or 2.27 points to 155.45 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM ), which lost 1.49% or 1.20 points to trade at 79.50 in late trade. Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX ) declined 1.11% or 1.16 points to end at 103.11 and Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS ) shed 0.95% or 1.03 points to 107.18.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Broadcom Ltd (NASDAQ: AVGO ) which rose 8.50% to 254.53, Cooper Companies Inc (NYSE: COO ) which was up 8.43% to settle at 238.32 and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: REGN ) which gained 3.09% to close at 480.43.

The worst performers were Newfield Exploration Company (NYSE: NFX ) which was down 5.02% to 30.83 in late trade, Southwestern Energy Company (NYSE: SWN ) which lost 4.97% to settle at 5.74 and Tegna Inc (NYSE: TGNA ) which was down 4.36% to 14.6800 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Inventergy (NASDAQ: INVT ) which rose 38.30% to 0.260, Wins Finance Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: WINS ) which was up 33.53% to settle at 26.72 and ChinaCache International Holdings (NASDAQ: CCIH ) which gained 26.12% to close at 1.69.

The worst performers were LiNiu Technology Group (NASDAQ: LINU ) which was down 30.65% to 0.430 in late trade, Endocyte Inc (NASDAQ: ECYT ) which lost 30.04% to settle at 1.910 and Microbot Medical Inc (NASDAQ: MBOT ) which was down 29.57% to 3.8100 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1893 to 1322 and 43 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1671 rose and 865 declined, while 96 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 0.91% to 9.80.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.92% or 11.67 to $1278.67 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in July fell 1.10% or 0.53 to hit $47.83 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract fell 1.03% or 0.52 to trade at $50.11 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.61% to 1.1281, while USD/JPY fell 0.85% to 110.42.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.55% at 96.63.