After reaching record intraday highs early in the session, US markets gave back some ground over the course of the trading day on Friday, with Dow ending higher, while Nasdaq witnessed sharp pullback, as traders cashed in on some of the recent strength among technology stocks. Sentiments remained dampened with the unexpected outcome of the U.K. elections in which no party gained a clear majority, resulting in a hung parliament. The election backfired on U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May and her Conservative party, who had expected to expand their majority. Traders also remained on the sidelines ahead of ahead to next week's monetary policy announcement by the Federal Reserve. CME Group’s FedWatch Tool indicates a 99.6 percent chance that the Fed will raise interest rates by a quarter point next week. With the Fed widely expected to raise rates, traders will pay close attention to the accompanying statement for clues about future rate hikes.
Nasdaq declined 113.85 points or 1.80 percent to 6,207.92 and S&P 500 was down by 2.02 points or 0.08 percent to 2,431.77. However, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 89.44 points or 0.42 percent to 21,271.97.