Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Technology and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.15%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.21%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.60%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD), which rose 2.21% or 4.30 points to trade at 198.61 at the close. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) added 2.02% or 1.10 points to end at 55.46 and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) was up 1.70% or 3.36 points to 200.86 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Boeing Co (NYSE:BA), which lost 1.54% or 6.01 points to trade at 384.74 in late trade. Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc (NASDAQ:WBA) declined 0.94% or 0.52 points to end at 54.84 and Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) shed 0.84% or 0.39 points to 46.18.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Acuity Brands Inc (NYSE:AYI) which rose 8.80% to 134.79, Advanced Micro Devices Inc (NASDAQ:AMD) which was up 8.49% to settle at 29.02 and Nielsen Holdings PLC (NYSE:NLSN) which gained 7.22% to close at 26.00.
The worst performers were Range Resources Corp (NYSE:RRC) which was down 5.88% to 10.24 in late trade, Altria Group (NYSE:MO) which lost 4.78% to settle at 53.98 and Raytheon Company (NYSE:RTN) which was down 4.54% to 177.37 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Ocean Power Technologies Inc (NASDAQ:OPTT) which rose 55.20% to 7.760, Yangtze River Port and Logistics Ltd (NASDAQ:YRIV) which was up 55.01% to settle at 1.13 and Evogene Ltd (NASDAQ:EVGN) which gained 30.00% to close at 2.34.
The worst performers were Fusion Telecommunications International Inc (NASDAQ:FSNN) which was down 81.64% to 0.220 in late trade, Obalon Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:OBLN) which lost 61.87% to settle at 0.56 and Phunware Inc (NASDAQ:PHUN) which was down 60.60% to 5.52 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1691 to 1266 and 135 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1497 rose and 1134 declined, while 81 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 2.84% to 13.74.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 0.09% or 1.15 to $1294.25 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 0.16% or 0.10 to hit $62.48 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract rose 0.04% or 0.03 to trade at $69.52 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.03% to 1.1237, while USD/JPY fell 0.00% to 111.47.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.23% at 96.703.