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

Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Friday, as gains in the Consumer Goods , Industrials and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Technology , Healthcare and Utilities sectors led shares lower.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.29%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.15%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 0.06%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Nike Inc (NYSE: NKE ), which rose 10.96% or 5.83 points to trade at 59.00 at the close. Caterpillar Inc (NYSE: CAT ) added 1.72% or 1.82 points to end at 107.46 and Home Depot Inc (NYSE: HD ) was up 0.81% or 1.24 points to 153.40 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS ), which lost 1.12% or 2.51 points to trade at 221.90 in late trade. Visa Inc (NYSE: V ) declined 0.68% or 0.64 points to end at 93.78 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE: MRK ) shed 0.39% or 0.25 points to 64.09.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Nike Inc (NYSE: NKE ) which rose 10.96% to 59.00, Quanta Services Inc (NYSE: PWR ) which was up 3.26% to settle at 32.92 and Mattel Inc (NASDAQ: MAT ) which gained 3.16% to close at 21.53.

The worst performers were Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ: MU ) which was down 5.12% to 29.86 in late trade, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: REGN ) which lost 3.68% to settle at 491.14 and Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC ) which was down 3.33% to 88.60 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Bioblast Pharma Ltd (NASDAQ: ORPN ) which rose 42.55% to 0.670, Sears Canada Inc (NASDAQ: SRSC ) which was up 43.21% to settle at 0.802 and West Marine Inc (NASDAQ: WMAR ) which gained 33.16% to close at 12.85.

The worst performers were Cara Therapeutic (NASDAQ: CARA ) which was down 39.67% to 15.39 in late trade, Moleculin Biotech Inc (NASDAQ: MBRX ) which lost 37.04% to settle at 1.87 and NXT-ID Inc (NASDAQ: NXTD ) which was down 34.84% to 1.8700 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1887 to 1226 and 143 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1305 fell and 1175 advanced, while 150 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 2.71% to 11.13.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.27% or 3.42 to $1242.38 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 2.89% or 1.30 to hit $46.23 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract rose 2.71% or 1.29 to trade at $48.92 a barrel.

EUR/USD was down 0.16% to 1.1423, while USD/JPY rose 0.25% to 112.47.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.07% at 95.39.