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Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Friday, as gains in the Consumer Goods, Telecoms and Utilities sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Oil&Gas, Technology and Basic Materials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.39%, while the S&P 500 index lost 0.28%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 0.58%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Merck&Company Inc (NYSE:MRK), which rose 2.83% or 3.01 points to trade at 109.52 at the close. Amgen Inc (NASDAQ:AMGN) added 2.69% or 6.31 points to end at 240.53 and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) was up 2.41% or 11.73 points to 499.08 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX), which lost 2.23% or 3.72 points to trade at 162.85 in late trade. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) declined 2.09% or 0.59 points to end at 27.61 and Salesforce Inc (NYSE:CRM) shed 1.75% or 2.94 points to 165.17.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Deere&Company (NYSE:DE) which rose 7.53% to 433.31, Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc (NYSE:BIO) which was up 5.99% to settle at 483.23 and Organon&Co (NYSE:OGN) which gained 4.60% to close at 26.02.
The worst performers were Albemarle Corp (NYSE:ALB) which was down 9.67% to 258.01 in late trade, Hess Corporation (NYSE:HES) which lost 5.73% to settle at 135.52 and Halliburton Company (NYSE:HAL) which was down 5.39% to 36.50 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were OKYO Pharma Ltd ADR (NASDAQ:OKYO) which rose 62.96% to 3.74, Pathfinder Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:MVLA) which was up 46.56% to settle at 4.69 and Apexigen Inc (NASDAQ:APGN) which gained 44.21% to close at 1.37.
The worst performers were Arqit Quantum Inc (NASDAQ:ARQQ) which was down 42.09% to 1.47 in late trade, Universal Electronics Inc (NASDAQ:UEIC) which lost 33.01% to settle at 16.38 and Mountain Crest Acquisition Corp III (NASDAQ:MCAE) which was down 32.72% to 4.97 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1676 to 1304 and 119 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1920 rose and 1681 declined, while 217 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 0.74% to 20.02.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was down 0.01% or 0.15 to $1,851.65 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March fell 2.78% or 2.18 to hit $76.31 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract fell 2.55% or 2.17 to trade at $82.97 a barrel.
EUR/USD was unchanged 0.25% to 1.07, while USD/JPY rose 0.19% to 134.20.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.01% at 103.81.