Major Averages Close Notably Higher On The Day, Mixed For The Week

(RTTNews) - After coming under pressure over the course of the previous session, stocks regained some ground during trading on Friday. The strength on Wall Street came even as the ongoing government shutdown entered its fourth day.

Networking stocks showed a substantial move to the upside over the course of the trading day, driving the NYSE Arca Networking Index up by 2.3 percent. With the gain, the index reached its best closing level in over two years.

Ciena (CIEN) helped to lead the networking sector higher, jumping by 6.1 percent, while Infinera (INFN) and Juniper Networks (JNPR) also posted strong gains.

Significant strength was also visible among health insurance stocks, as reflected by the 1.5 percent gain posted by the Morgan Stanley Healthcare Payor Index. Aetna (AET) and Humana (HUM) turned in two of the sector's best performances.

Chemical, internet, and oil service stocks also saw considerable strength, moving to the upside along with most of the other major sectors.

Meanwhile, housing stocks came under pressure on the day, dragging the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index down by 1.3 percent.

The major averages were largely rangebound in afternoon trading, holding on to notable gains. The Dow rose 76.10 points or 0.5 percent to 15,072.58, the Nasdaq climbed 33.41 points or 0.9 percent to 3,807.75 and the S&P 500 advanced 11.84 points or 0.7 percent to 1,690.50.

For the week, the major averages turned in another mixed performance. While the Nasdaq rose by 0.7 percent, the Dow tumbled by 1.2 percent and the S&P 500 edged down by 0.1 percent.