U.S. shares higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.41%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.41%, while the S&P 500 index added 0.56%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.31%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Amgen Inc (NASDAQ: AMGN ), which rose 2.12% or 4.93 points to trade at 238.03 at the close. Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE: PG ) added 2.04% or 2.93 points to end at 146.72 and Coca-Cola Co (NYSE: KO ) was up 1.64% or 0.98 points to 60.90 in late trade.

Biggest losers included American Express Company (NYSE: AXP ), which lost 1.83% or 2.98 points to trade at 159.78 in late trade. Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS ) declined 1.83% or 1.75 points to end at 94.08 and JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM ) shed 1.52% or 1.93 points to 124.91.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Activision Blizzard Inc (NASDAQ: ATVI ) which rose 5.91% to 84.39, KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY ) which was up 5.24% to settle at 11.86 and Intuitive Surgical Inc (NASDAQ: ISRG ) which gained 4.89% to close at 256.42.

The worst performers were Monolithic Power Systems Inc (NASDAQ: MPWR ) which was down 4.92% to 485.40 in late trade, Enphase Energy Inc (NASDAQ: ENPH ) which lost 4.24% to settle at 195.99 and Lam Research Corp (NASDAQ: LRCX ) which was down 4.11% to 502.06 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Greenbrook TMS Inc (NASDAQ: GBNH ) which rose 106.00% to 1.03, Virgin Orbit Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: VORB ) which was up 50.06% to settle at 0.80 and Virios Therapeutics Llc (NASDAQ: VIRI ) which gained 43.55% to close at 0.44.

The worst performers were Allarity Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: ALLR ) which was down 31.95% to 0.08 in late trade, Hyzon Motors Inc (NASDAQ: HYZN ) which lost 26.99% to settle at 0.73 and Summit Healthcare Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ: YS ) which was down 26.31% to 4.79 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1862 to 1133 and 116 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2012 rose and 1543 declined, while 189 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 3.85% to 21.74.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.75% or 14.90 to $1,981.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 1.09% or 0.76 to hit $69.20 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 1.25% or 0.95 to trade at $74.96 a barrel.

EUR/USD was down 0.65% to 1.08, while USD/JPY fell 0.09% to 130.70.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.56% at 102.78.