U.S. shares higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.57%

Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Oil & Gas , Basic Materials and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.57% to hit a new 6-month high, while the S&P 500 index added 0.67%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.60%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO ), which rose 3.32% or 1.60 points to trade at 49.83 at the close. Walmart Inc (NYSE: WMT ) added 2.69% or 3.67 points to end at 140.30 and Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE: XOM ) was up 2.39% or 0.95 points to 40.69 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ: WBA ), which lost 1.47% or 0.58 points to trade at 38.76 in late trade. Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS ) declined 1.16% or 2.44 points to end at 207.71 and The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE: TRV ) shed 1.10% or 1.29 points to 115.89.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC ) which rose 7.38% to 37.84, Carnival Corporation (NYSE: CCL ) which was up 6.76% to settle at 17.21 and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NYSE: NCLH ) which gained 6.25% to close at 17.69.

The worst performers were eBay Inc (NASDAQ: EBAY ) which was down 3.62% to 54.27 in late trade, Tractor Supply Company (NASDAQ: TSCO ) which lost 2.72% to settle at 146.91 and ABIOMED Inc (NASDAQ: ABMD ) which was down 2.59% to 303.04 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were VivoPower International PLC (NASDAQ: VVPR ) which rose 69.06% to 8.250, Edesa Biotech Inc (NASDAQ: EDSA ) which was up 40.28% to settle at 8.15 and Sphere 3D Corp (NASDAQ: ANY ) which gained 29.94% to close at 2.3000.

The worst performers were Destination XL Group Inc (NASDAQ: DXLG ) which was down 21.09% to 0.355 in late trade, Uxin Ltd (NASDAQ: UXIN ) which lost 13.33% to settle at 0.910 and Oncternal Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: ONCT ) which was down 12.24% to 2.15 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2144 to 916 and 75 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1831 rose and 950 declined, while 94 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 6.17% to 22.96.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 2.09% or 40.40 to $1973.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October fell 0.19% or 0.08 to hit $42.96 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract rose 0.59% or 0.27 to trade at $45.87 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.68% to 1.1901, while USD/JPY fell 1.11% to 105.36.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.76% at 92.287.