U.S. shares higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.77%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.77%, while the S&P 500 index added 1.74%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 1.79%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX ), which rose 3.41% or 3.87 points to trade at 117.22 at the close. Caterpillar Inc (NYSE: CAT ) added 3.03% or 4.66 points to end at 158.25 and General Electric Company (NYSE: GE ) was up 2.89% or 0.42 points to 14.94 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE: VZ ), which added 0.02% or 0.01 points to trade at 49.01 in late trade. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE: UNH ) added 0.31% or 0.70 points to end at 225.43 and Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE: PG ) gained 0.40% or 0.32 points to 80.29.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Lam Research Corp (NASDAQ: LRCX ) which rose 5.74% to 224.95, Wynn Resorts Limited (NASDAQ: WYNN ) which was up 5.46% to settle at 188.89 and Kroger Company (NYSE: KR ) which gained 4.79% to close at 24.08.

The worst performers were Mattel Inc (NASDAQ: MAT ) which was down 7.11% to 14.84 in late trade, Kimco Realty Corporation (NYSE: KIM ) which lost 4.36% to settle at 14.48 and Scana Corporation (NYSE: SCG ) which was down 3.59% to 39.13 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Arcadia Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ: RKDA ) which rose 65.61% to 10.400, Spark Energy Inc (NASDAQ: SPKE ) which was up 30.23% to settle at 11.20 and Coherus BioSciences Inc (NASDAQ: CHRS ) which gained 30.22% to close at 11.85.

The worst performers were Sunesis Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: SNSS ) which was down 42.39% to 4.2400 in late trade, Autobytel Inc (NASDAQ: AUTO ) which lost 41.59% to settle at 3.960 and Jaguar Health Inc (NASDAQ: JAGX ) which was down 31.05% to 0.223 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2283 to 817 and 101 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1861 rose and 684 declined, while 115 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 11.73% to 14.60 a new 1-month low.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.16% or 2.10 to $1323.80 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 3.28% or 1.97 to hit $62.09 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 3.07% or 1.95 to trade at $65.56 a barrel.

EUR/USD was down 0.02% to 1.2308, while USD/JPY rose 0.56% to 106.80.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.01% at 90.10.