Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Consumer Goods, Telecoms and Technology sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.03% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.14%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.32%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK), which rose 1.78% or 0.99 points to trade at 56.58 at the close. Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT) added 1.47% or 1.31 points to end at 90.26 and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) was up 1.11% or 1.55 points to 141.32 in late trade.
Biggest losers included JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM), which lost 1.12% or 1.11 points to trade at 97.64 in late trade. Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT) declined 1.09% or 1.52 points to end at 137.29 and UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) shed 0.91% or 1.93 points to 210.77.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Activision Blizzard Inc (NASDAQ:ATVI) which rose 5.89% to 64.55, H&R Block Inc (NYSE:HRB) which was up 5.12% to settle at 25.25 and MGM Resorts International (NYSE:MGM) which gained 5.09% to close at 33.06.
The worst performers were DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc (NYSE:DVA) which was down 7.84% to 54.34 in late trade, CSRA Inc (NYSE:CSRA) which lost 6.84% to settle at 29.56 and Time Warner Inc (NYSE:TWX) which was down 6.51% to 88.50 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were KBS Fashion Group Ltd (NASDAQ:KBSF) which rose 208.64% to 8.2200, Kingtone Wirelessinfo Solution (NASDAQ:KONE) which was up 71.47% to settle at 5.590 and OncoSec Medical Inc (NASDAQ:ONCS) which gained 60.00% to close at 2.000.
The worst performers were Rand Logistics Inc (NASDAQ:RLOG) which was down 62.37% to 0.7150 in late trade, Top Ships Inc (NASDAQ:TOPS) which lost 61.21% to settle at 0.8999 and TearLab Corp (NASDAQ:TEAR) which was down 45.67% to 0.6900 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1555 to 1515 and 131 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1353 fell and 1173 advanced, while 138 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 1.62% to 9.73.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.43% or 5.53 to $1281.33 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 0.65% or 0.37 to hit $56.83 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 0.30% or 0.19 to trade at $63.50 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.08% to 1.1596, while USD/JPY fell 0.11% to 113.88.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.05% at 94.76.