US stocks advanced on Friday, buoyed by a solid payrolls report for November that locked in expectations for an interest rate hike from the US Federal Reserve next week.
Technology stocks such as Microsoft, Apple and Oracle helped pace the advance, as they continued to rebound from a selloff in the sector earlier in the week.
Nonfarm payrolls rose by 228,000 jobs last month amid broad gains in hiring as the distortions from the recent hurricanes faded, Labour Department data showed, topping expectations calling for a rise by 200,000 jobs.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 117.68 points, or 0.49 per cent, to 24,329.16, the S&P 500 ained 14.52 points, or 0.55 per cent, to 2,651.5 and the Nasdaq Composite added 27.24 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 6,840.08, reports Reuters.
For the week, the Dow rose 0.4 per cent, the S&P advanced 0.35 per cent and the Nasdaq fell 0.11 per cent.
Microsoft rose 2.02 per cent as the biggest boost to the S&P 500. The S&P technology sector was up 0.4 per cent and was on track for its fourth straight day of gains.
Alexion Pharmaceuticals jumped 7.2 per cent and was the best performer on the S&P. The gained lifted the S&P healthcare sector 1.1 per cent.
Shares of American Outdoor Brands tumbled 9.5 per cent after the Smith & Wesson firearms maker provided a disappointing earnings forecast. Shares of peer Sturm Ruger also dropped 8.0 per cent.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a 1.47-to-1 ratio; on Nasdaq, a 1.23-to-1 ratio favoured advancers.
About 5.85 billion shares changed hands in U.S. exchanges, compared with the 6.53 billion daily average over the last 20 sessions.
