U.S. shares higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.25%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.25% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.19%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.33%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT ), which rose 2.24% or 7.27 points to trade at 331.62 at the close. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC ) added 1.91% or 0.92 points to end at 49.00 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE: MRK ) was up 1.73% or 1.50 points to 88.05 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL ), which lost 1.81% or 2.76 points to trade at 149.81 in late trade. Dow Inc (NYSE: DOW ) declined 1.06% or 0.60 points to end at 55.97 and 3M Company (NYSE: MMM ) shed 0.66% or 1.19 points to 178.68.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were WW Grainger Inc (NYSE: GWW ) which rose 7.51% to 463.11, eBay Inc (NASDAQ: EBAY ) which was up 5.95% to settle at 76.72 and VeriSign Inc (NASDAQ: VRSN ) which gained 5.68% to close at 222.67.

The worst performers were Mohawk Industries Inc (NYSE: MHK ) which was down 10.98% to 177.21 in late trade, DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc (NYSE: DVA ) which lost 9.52% to settle at 103.24 and Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC ) which was down 8.71% to 52.29 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Diginex Ltd (NASDAQ: EQOS ) which rose 47.31% to 6.850, Bit Digital Inc (NASDAQ: BTBT ) which was up 41.79% to settle at 14.250 and Greenidge Generation Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: GREE ) which gained 33.81% to close at 27.190.

The worst performers were Huadi International Group Co Ltd (NASDAQ: HUDI ) which was down 38.90% to 17.290 in late trade, Caredx Inc (NASDAQ: CDNA ) which lost 27.50% to settle at 51.00 and 4D Molecular Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: FDMT ) which was down 22.11% to 24.03 at the close.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1755 to 1472 and 134 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1843 fell and 1842 advanced, while 185 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 1.63% to 16.26.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 1.03% or 18.65 to $1783.95 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 0.66% or 0.55 to hit $83.36 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 0.17% or 0.14 to trade at $83.80 a barrel.

EUR/USD was down 1.01% to 1.1561, while USD/JPY rose 0.38% to 114.00.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.84% at 94.108.