S&P 500 Index opens modestly higher ahead of US consumer sentiment data

• Wall Street's main indexes trade in the positive territory on Friday.
• Technology shares push higher after the opening bell.
• Investors await the University of Michigan's Consumer Sentiment Index data.

Major equity indexes in the US started the last day of the week in the positive territory on the back of improving market sentiment. The CBOE Volatility Index, Wall Street's fear gauge, was last seen falling more than 4% on the day at 16.94.

As of writing, the S&P 500 Index was up 0.2% at 4,656, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was rising 0.27% at 36,015 and the Nasdaq Composite was gaining 0.5% at 15,704.

Among the 11 major sectors, the Communication Services and the Technology indexes are up 0.3% after the opening bell. On the other hand, the defensive Utilities Index is losing 0.4%.

Later in the session, the University of Michigan will release the preliminary Consumer Sentiment Index data for November.

S&P 500 chart (daily)