The Dow, the broadest US equity barometer on the New York Stock Exchange, hit an all-time high of 35,095 before closing at 35,061, up 238 points or 0.7 percent on the day.

The S&P 500 index, which groups the top 500 stocks on the New York Stock Exchange, also hit a record high of 4,415 before settling up 1 percent at 4,410. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite peaked at 14,846 before finishing up 1 percent at 14,837.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite peaked at 14,846 before finishing up 1 percent at 14,837. Nasdaq, which groups high-flying tech stocks such as Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Netflix and Google, was the outperformer of the week, surging almost 3 percent.

Strong earnings for the second quarter posted by most US companies also enthused Friday’s rally, said analysts.

"Stock markets are ending the week on a positive note, with earnings continuing to surprise to the upside and Covid fears being brushed aside as the S&P and Nasdaq hit fresh record highs," Craig Erlam, analyst at New York-based broker OANDA, said. "Whether both of these things will continue, we'll see in the coming weeks, but for now investors are extremely enthused by what they've seen and optimistic about what's to come."

Ed Moya, head of OANDA, said earlier that “risk aversion is firmly in place as the Delta COVID-19 variant spread is triggering a flight to safety as global economic concerns intensify.”

US stocks had a rude start to the week as worries about global growth amid a resurgence of coronavirus cases led to a broad sell-off across markets. Cases involving the coronavirus Delta variant have surged in recent weeks, prompting some countries, including Australia and South Korea, to reintroduce restrictive measures.

All the three indexes fell about 2 percent or more on Monday, reacting to risk aversion.