Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Healthcare, Consumer Services and Financials sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.15%, while the S&P 500 index added 0.27%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.83%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE), which rose 1.23% or 1.23 points to trade at 100.84 at the close. Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) added 1.13% or 1.29 points to end at 115.59 and Visa Inc (NYSE:V) was up 1.06% or 0.70 points to 66.50 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM), which lost 1.97% or 1.69 points to trade at 84.06 in late trade. Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) declined 1.73% or 1.88 points to end at 106.66 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) shed 0.49% or 0.28 points to 57.15.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Perrigo Co (NYSE:PRGO) which rose 18.39% to 195.00, Mylan Inc (NASDAQ:MYL) which was up 14.76% to settle at 68.36 and Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) which gained 4.22% to close at 441.35.
The worst performers were Pentair Ltd (NYSE:PNR) which was down 3.49% to 62.21 in late trade, ENSCO plc (NYSE:ESV) which lost 3.32% to settle at 22.73 and Allegheny Technologies Incorporated (NYSE:ATI) which was down 3.28% to 30.07 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Kingtone Wirelessinfo Solution (NASDAQ:KONE) which rose 98.40% to 6.190, AirMedia Group Inc (NASDAQ:AMCN) which was up 38.54% to settle at 2.84 and QKL Stores Inc (NASDAQ:QKLS) which gained 36.36% to close at 2.550.
The worst performers were PostRock Energy Corporation (NASDAQ:PSTR) which was down 12.41% to 3.810 in late trade, Flamel Technologies SA (NASDAQ:FLML) which lost 11.86% to settle at 16.64 and Sysorex Gbl (NASDAQ:SYRX) which was down 11.35% to 1.64 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1681 to 1125; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1767 rose and 992 declined, while 8 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 5.41% to 13.98.
In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was down 0.64% or 7.80 to $1202.80 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 5.70% or 3.08 to hit $50.91 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract fell 5.20% or 3.08 to trade at $56.02 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.26% to 1.0787, while USD/JPY fell 0.15% to 120.14.
The US Dollar Index was unchanged 0.00% at 98.25.