U.S. shares higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.30%

Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Basic Materials , Financials and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.30%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.57%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.88%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Nike Inc (NYSE: NKE ), which rose 2.10% or 1.09 points to trade at 53.07 at the close. American Express Company (NYSE: AXP ) added 1.64% or 1.23 points to end at 76.26 and Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS ) was up 1.28% or 1.36 points to 107.44 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM ), which lost 1.10% or 1.00 points to trade at 89.89 in late trade. Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ: CSCO ) declined 0.59% or 0.18 points to end at 30.10 and The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE: TRV ) shed 0.54% or 0.65 points to 120.25.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc (NYSE: FCX ) which rose 7.62% to 14.83, NRG Energy Inc (NYSE: NRG ) which was up 5.93% to settle at 13.03 and General Motors Company (NYSE: GM ) which gained 5.52% to close at 37.09.

The worst performers were Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE: VLO ) which was down 3.59% to 67.89 in late trade, Tesoro Corporation (NYSE: TSO ) which lost 3.44% to settle at 85.73 and Marathon Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: MPC ) which was down 3.19% to 51.24 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Orexigen Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: OREX ) which rose 64.25% to 3.400, Ignite Restaurant Group Inc (NASDAQ: IRG ) which was up 46.19% to settle at 0.921 and COPsync Inc (NASDAQ: COYN ) which gained 38.48% to close at 1.0400.

The worst performers were Agile Thrpe (NASDAQ: AGRX ) which was down 47.40% to 2.63 in late trade, Acura Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: ACUR ) which lost 16.90% to settle at 0.698 and Social Reality Inc (NASDAQ: SRAX ) which was down 15.96% to 5.1601 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2711 to 536 and 33 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1942 rose and 610 declined, while 87 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 7.78% to 11.85.

In commodities trading, Gold for February delivery was up 0.25% or 2.85 to $1164.85 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 1.68% or 0.88 to hit $53.21 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 1.71% or 0.95 to trade at $56.42 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.73% to 1.0482, while USD/JPY fell 0.35% to 117.34.

The US Dollar Index was down 0.66% at 102.56.