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.