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US stocks end higher; technology firms

| Updated: October 24, 2017 18:04:40


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US stocks ended in record highs on Friday as large technology and health care companies and smaller US-focused firms rose again.

Stocks were mixed at the start of trading, as they had been the day before. But chipmakers and big-name technology companies pulled stocks higher, as they have done all year.

Health care companies also did better than the rest of the market. Tyson Foods climbed after it gave strong profit forecasts, and investors cheered strong quarterly results from homebuilder KB Home.

The market ended the quarter on a four-day winning streak that began after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said the central bank plans to continue to raising interest rates, reports AP.

The S&P 500 index rose 9.30 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 2,519.36. The Dow Jones industrial average turned higher to finish with a gain of 23.89 points, or 0.1 per cent, at 22,405.09.

The Nasdaq composite jumped 42.51 points, or 0.7 per cent, to 6,495.96. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both closed at all-time highs.

Oil prices recovered and turned higher just before the close of trading. Benchmark US crude rose 11 cents to $51.67 a barrel in New York.

Brent crude, the standard for international oil prices, rose 13 cents to $57.54 a barrel in London.

US crude oil rose 12 per cent in the third quarter, which helped energy companies do better than the rest of the market. But on Friday those companies gave back some of their recent gains.

Gold lost $3.90 to $1,284.80 an ounce. Silver slid 17 cents to $16.68 an ounce. Copper fell 3 cents to $2.96 a pound.

The dollar rose to 112.51 yen from 112.39 yen. The euro rose to $1.1816 from $1.1791.

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