U.S. shares lower at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.05%

Investing.com – U.S. equities were lower at the close on Friday, as losses in the Healthcare , Consumer Services and Oil & Gas sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.05%, while the S&P 500 index lost 0.31%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 0.50%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX ), which rose 3.94% or 3.94 points to trade at 103.86 at the close. General Electric Company (NYSE: GE ) added 2.10% or 0.60 points to end at 29.23 and United Technologies Corporation (NYSE: UTX ) was up 1.78% or 1.78 points to 101.85 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Merck & Company Inc (NYSE: MRK ), which lost 4.01% or 2.46 points to trade at 58.83 in late trade. Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM ) declined 2.52% or 2.19 points to end at 84.73 and Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE ) shed 1.66% or 0.54 points to 31.94.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (NYSE: RCL ) which rose 9.40% to 74.45, Baker Hughes Incorporated (NYSE: BHI ) which was up 8.39% to settle at 59.12 and Hanesbrands Inc (NYSE: HBI ) which gained 8.32% to close at 25.78.

The worst performers were McKesson Corporation (NYSE: MCK ) which was down 22.39% to 124.57 in late trade, AmerisourceBergen (NYSE: ABC ) which lost 13.03% to settle at 69.14 and Cardinal Health Inc (NYSE: CAH ) which was down 9.76% to 67.50 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Gravity Co Ltd (NASDAQ: GRVY ) which rose 115.38% to 9.800, Virtus Investment Partners Inc (NASDAQ: VRTS ) which was up 19.82% to settle at 111.55 and Myos Rens Technology Inc (NASDAQ: MYOS ) which gained 18.44% to close at 1.670.

The worst performers were Opexa Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: OPXA ) which was down 70.00% to 1.050 in late trade, Senomyx Inc (NASDAQ: SNMX ) which lost 59.25% to settle at 1.080 and eHealth Inc (NASDAQ: EHTH ) which was down 32.91% to 7.48 at the close.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1867 to 1254 and 105 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1404 fell and 1020 advanced, while 173 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 5.40% to 16.19.

In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was up 0.47% or 6.00 to $1275.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 2.11% or 1.05 to hit $48.67 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract fell 1.53% or 0.77 to trade at $49.70 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.82% to 1.0986, while USD/JPY fell 0.52% to 104.73.

The US Dollar Index was down 0.62% at 98.31.