Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Utilities, Technology and Health Care sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.79%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 1.07%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 1.30%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE), which rose 3.27% or 1.08 points to trade at 34.15 at the close. Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) added 2.84% or 1.17 points to end at 42.40 and Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) was up 2.34% or 0.77 points to 33.70 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), which lost 0.91% or 0.77 points to trade at 83.90 in late trade. Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) declined 0.60% or 0.55 points to end at 91.01 and Visa Inc (NYSE:V) shed 0.34% or 0.91 points to 264.55.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Martin Marietta Materials Inc (NYSE:MLM) which rose 15.17% to 137.24, Sealed Air Corporation (NYSE:SEE) which was up 10.60% to settle at 45.27 and Micron Technology Inc (NASDAQ:MU) which gained 9.66% to close at 31.09.
The worst performers were Denbury Resources Inc (NYSE:DNR) which was down 8.48% to 8.20 in late trade, Transocean Ltd (NYSE:RIG) which lost 6.26% to settle at 19.16 and Computer Sciences Corporation (NYSE:CSC) which was down 6.09% to 60.89 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Ivanhoe Energy Inc (NASDAQ:IVAN) which rose 34.62% to 0.920, Finjan Hold (NASDAQ:FNJN) which was up 30.54% to settle at 2.65 and Fuwei Films (Holdings) Co Ltd (NASDAQ:FFHL) which gained 26.55% to close at 0.697.
The worst performers were KBS Fashion Group Ltd (NASDAQ:KBSF) which was down 39.29% to 4.25 in late trade, BioClinica (NASDAQ:BIOC) which lost 33.51% to settle at 1.23 and Recon Technology Ltd (NASDAQ:RCON) which was down 21.23% to 2.300 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1776 to 1020; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1752 rose and 1051 declined, while 1 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 7.01% to 17.25.
In commodities trading, Gold for April delivery was down 0.60% or 7.50 to $1234.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude Oil for delivery in March fell 4.47% or 2.37 to hit $50.49 a barrel, while the April Brent Oil contract fell 2.19% or 1.30 to trade at $58.03 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.11% to 1.1313, while USD/JPY rose 0.67% to 119.44.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.17% at 94.86.