Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Oil & Gas, Telecoms and Financials sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Consumer Goods, Utilities and Technology sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.10% to hit a new 6-month high, while the S&P 500 index added 0.02%, and the NASDAQ Composite index fell 0.03%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM), which rose 1.21% or 0.75 points to trade at 62.57 at the close. Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) added 0.84% or 0.47 points to end at 56.44 and Visa Inc (NYSE:V) was up 0.71% or 0.57 points to 80.31 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), which lost 1.03% or 0.33 points to trade at 31.80 in late trade. Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) declined 0.84% or 0.83 points to end at 98.63 and Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG) shed 0.57% or 0.47 points to 82.01.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Baker Hughes Incorporated (NYSE:BHI) which rose 4.55% to 43.18, American Airlines Group (NASDAQ:AAL) which was up 3.08% to settle at 41.17 and Molson Coors Brewing Company (NYSE:TAP) which gained 3.07% to close at 95.76.
The worst performers were Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ:STX) which was down 20.10% to 27.11 in late trade, Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ:WDC) which lost 6.65% to settle at 41.82 and Transocean Ltd (NYSE:RIG) which was down 6.42% to 9.25 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Eleven Biothera (NASDAQ:EBIO) which rose 69.85% to 0.5690, Synta Pharmaceuticals Corp (NASDAQ:SNTA) which was up 67.72% to settle at 0.4099 and Interpace Diagnostics Group Inc (NASDAQ:IDXG) which gained 33.75% to close at 0.5350.
The worst performers were Energy XXI Ltd (NASDAQ:EXXI) which was down 80.42% to 0.1277 in late trade, BreitBurn Energy Partners LP (NASDAQ:BBEP) which lost 35.00% to settle at 0.4000 and MOL Global Inc (NASDAQ:MOLG) which was down 25.00% to 0.2250 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1857 to 1454 and 44 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1290 rose and 1278 declined, while 73 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 0.87% to 13.72.
In commodities trading, Gold for June delivery was down 1.65% or 20.60 to $1227.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 0.69% or 0.29 to hit $41.47 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 0.70% or 0.31 to trade at $43.87 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.13% to 1.1260, while USD/JPY rose 0.04% to 109.38.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.16% at 94.96.