NEW YORK (AFP) - The Dow and S&P 500 edged lower on Friday on weakness among petroleum shares, while the Nasdaq pushed higher as many leading tech stocks advanced.

At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 16,388.71, down 24.72 points (0.15 per cent).

The broad-based S&P 500 dipped 0.24 (0.01 per cent) to 1,917.59, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose 16.89 (0.38 per cent) to 4,504.43.

Most petroleum-linked equities retreated as oil prices fell.

The bigger losers included Apache Petroleum and Continental Resources, both of which fell about 4.5 per cent.

The gains in Nasdaq reflect that "investors are concluding that a lot of the technology stocks are insulated from the vagaries of oil," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer BMO Private Bank.

Among tech stocks, Amazon rose 1.9 per cent, Facebook 1.1 per cent and Priceline 2.5 per cent.