By Dan Strumpf
Stocks turned mixed in afternoon trading, as investors welcomed
Scottish voters' decision to remain part of the U.K., while shares
of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. made their trading debut with a sharp
gain.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 19 points, or 0.1%, to
17285, earlier hitting an intraday record of 17350.64 in early
trading. The S&P 500 index was down a point to 2011 after
having reached a record of 2019.27. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed
19 points, or 0.4%, to 4574.
Investors widely embraced Thursday's vote in Scotland that
rejected independence from the U.K., snapping up shares of European
companies and pushing the British pound to a two-week high against
the dollar and a two-year high against the euro.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index climbed 0.2%, while the U.K.'s FTSE
100 index gained 0.3%.
"Uncertainty is never good for the market, and now you've
removed a layer of uncertainty, so everyone is embracing that,"
said Michael Antonelli, sales trader at brokerage Robert W. Baird.
"The market would have gotten smoked if they had voted 'yes'."
While the vote heads off thorny economic and political questions
over the fate of the U.K., growing confidence in a vote against
independence had already boosted markets earlier this week, before
the referendum result was known.
Meanwhile, Alibaba kicked off trading on the New York Stock
Exchange mid-day Friday with a big jump above its $68-a-share
offering price. Shares of the Chinese e-commerce company recently
traded at $91.24, 34% above the offering price, under the ticker
BABA.
Investors around the world have been closely watching the deal,
which priced at the top of its recently raised forecast range. The
deal itself, open mainly to big asset managers, raised $21.8
billion, making it the biggest-ever U.S.-listed IPO. The figure
could rise to $25 billion if underwriters exercise an option to
sell more shares.
"From my seat so far it looks like a successful IPO," said Brian
Fenske, head of sales trading at brokerage ITG. "It's a unique
asset. It's in demand. A lot of investors have been following it
for years--it's not a new company."
Ron Weiner, president of RDM Financial Group, which manages
about $750 million, said he had been tracking the anticipated
pricing of the stock all morning and ultimately decided against
buying. However, he said he owns shares in big mutual funds that
were able to get shares at the lower offering price.
"I could see it going a lot higher over time, but just decided
that we don't want to pay over 90 bucks," he said. He added he
expects gains for stocks more broadly this year.
Friday's move extends a strong week for stocks, as investors
were encouraged by the Federal Reserve's latest policy statement on
Wednesday that signaled plans to keep interest rates low for a long
time. The S&P 500 is up 1.2% on the week and 8.8% this year.
The economic calendar was light Friday.
Trading in stocks broadly has been guarded, with investors wary
of pushing stocks sharply higher and setting cautious limits on
their trades, said Tom Carter, managing director at brokerage
JonesTrading. Still, investors seem comfortable with higher stock
prices.
"Nothing's spooked the market yet--all the big stuff this week,
and nothing's spooked it," Mr. Carter said. "You've been hearing
for a while, 'OK, this is the top, we're due, this is the right
time of year for us to move a little lower.' And it's not."
Shares of Yahoo Inc. fell 3.7%. The company is one of Alibaba's
biggest stakeholders and is set to earn about $5.1 billion on the
IPO as one of the biggest sellers of shares.
Shares of Oracle Corp. fell 4.5% after longtime Chief Executive
Larry Ellison said late Thursday he would step down from the
technology stalwart.
Rite Aid Corp. shares declined 1.9%, extending a slump after
Thursday's loss of 18.5%, after the company reduced its full-year
earnings guidance based on expectations for lower pharmacy margins
in the second half.
In commodity markets, crude-oil futures fell 1.2% to $91.96 a
barrel. Gold futures declined 0.6% to $1228.30 an ounce. The yield
on the 10-year Treasury note eased to 2.616% from 2.629% late
Thursday.
Josie Cox and Matt Jarzemsky contributed to this article.
Write to Dan Strumpf at daniel.strumpf@wsj.com