U.S. stocks closed mostly lower on Friday

Nasdaq bucks the trend getting support from Apple

U.S. stocks closed mostly lower on Friday, 29 November 2013 pulling back from Wednesday's record levels, but still achieved gains for the week and month. The main indexes spent most of the shortened, post-Thanksgiving session in positive territory after upbeat reports on holiday shopping, but then erased their intraday gains in the final minutes of trading. The trading session ended at 1 p.m. Eastern time, three hours earlier than normal, and many traders were still on vacation following the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday.

The Dow lost 10.92 points, or less than 0.1%, to finish at 16,086.41. The blue-chip index rose 0.1% for the week and 3.5% for November. The Nasdaq Composite bucked Friday's negative trend, rising 15.14 points, or 0.4%, to end at 4,059.89. The tech-heavy index climbed 1.7% for the week and 3.6% for the month. The S&P 500 dipped 1.42 points, or less than 0.1%, to close at 1,805.81. It finished up less than 0.1% for the week and rose 2.8% for the month.

The S&P 500 suffered from late weakness, surrendering its entire gain during the final 30 minutes as financials and industrials tumbled into the red with most other sectors following suit. In addition, energy which displayed intraday strength, also gave up its gain into the close.

Meanwhile, the Nasdaq led from the opening bell as its largest component, Apple charged out of the gate. The stock climbed 1.9% amid news the company has secured almost 76% of October smartphone sales in Japan. Biotechnology also provided a measure of support to the index.

Outside of technology, the discretionary sector was the only other advancer. Online retailers like Amazon.com and eBay outperformed traditional names like Target and Wal-Mart even after the two brick-and-mortar retailers made upbeat-sounding comments regarding early Black Friday returns.

The ICE dollar index lost 0.2% to trade at 80.562 on Friday. A weaker dollar can lift commodities priced in the currency. The index was on track for a 0.6% monthly rise, while posting a 1.1% gain since the beginning of the year.

Gold futures rose Friday, buoyed by a weaker dollar and bargain hunting, but still finished November with the biggest drop since a June bloodbath. Gold for February delivery, the most active contract, gained $12.50 an ounce, or 1%, to settle at $1,250.40 in a shortened Comex floor trading session at the New York Mercantile Exchange. On a continuous basis, gold futures fell nearly 6.5% in November, the largest drop since a 12.2% decline in June. Gold is off more than 25% since the beginning of the year.

March silver futures advanced 34 cents, or 1.7%, to $20.02 an ounce. Silver saw a monthly fall of nearly 10%, also the largest decline since June.

Nymex oil futures ended higher on Friday, rebounding slightly from a nearly six-month low as a marginally weaker dollar contributed to a positive tone in commodity markets, while a cold snap helped drive natural-gas futures to a five-month high. Crude oil for January delivery rose 42 cents, or 0.4%, to finish at $92.72 a barrel in a shortened floor session on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Trading volume was light as only 474 million shares changed hands on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

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