March 18 (Reuters) - The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 indexes inched higher in volatile trading on Friday as megacap stocks gained ground, while investors assessed talks between U.S. President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping over the Ukraine conflict.
Seven of the 11 major S&P sectors were lower, with energy stocks and utilities falling the most.
Nvidia, Tesla, Apple and Microsoft rose between 0.7% and 5.9%, boosting the tech-heavy Nasdaq.
Xi told Biden that conflicts and confrontations such as the events unfolding in Ukraine are in the interests of no-one, according to Chinese state media.
"The geopolitical concerns are responsible for the vast majority of the market movement this week despite the fact that the Fed hiked interest rates," said Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and derivatives for Charles Schwab in Austin, Texas.
The day also marks "triple witching", where investors unwind positions in futures and options contracts before they expire which often leads to large unexpected moves in markets.
The S&P 500 index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average are on track for their best week since November 2020 on a three-day rally that was fueled by hopes for progress in the Russia-Ukraine peace talks and a widely expected interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve.
The U.S. central bank on Wednesday also forecast an aggressive plan for further hikes while trimming economic growth projections for the year.
At 10:20 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 108.76 points, or 0.32%, at 34,372 and the S&P 500 was up 4.73 points, or 0.11%, at 4,416.4.
The Nasdaq Composite was up 105.65 points, or 0.78%, at 13,720.43.
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