U.S. shares higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.61%

Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Oil & Gas , Basic Materials and Industrials sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.61%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.53%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.24%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Caterpillar Inc (NYSE: CAT ), which rose 4.48% or 3.71 points to trade at 86.59 at the close. Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE: XOM ) added 4.45% or 3.70 points to end at 86.94 and Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX ) was up 3.17% or 3.13 points to 102.11 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Nike Inc (NYSE: NKE ), which lost 3.79% or 2.10 points to trade at 53.24 in late trade. McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD ) declined 1.47% or 1.72 points to end at 115.16 and Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO ) shed 1.06% or 0.45 points to 42.14.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Murphy Oil Corporation (NYSE: MUR ) which rose 11.28% to 28.91, National Oilwell Varco Inc (NYSE: NOV ) which was up 8.49% to settle at 36.28 and Devon Energy Corporation (NYSE: DVN ) which gained 8.34% to close at 41.58.

The worst performers were Paychex Inc (NASDAQ: PAYX ) which was down 4.60% to 57.50 in late trade, Nike Inc (NYSE: NKE ) which lost 3.79% to settle at 53.24 and Leggett & Platt Incorporated (NYSE: LEG ) which was down 3.64% to 46.56 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were SkyPeople Fruit Juice Inc (NASDAQ: SPU ) which rose 40.48% to 9.8900, Anavex Life Sciences Corp (NASDAQ: AVXL ) which was up 31.53% to settle at 4.130 and Professional Diversity Network Inc (NASDAQ: IPDN ) which gained 29.60% to close at 7.7500.

The worst performers were Cosi Inc (NASDAQ: COSI ) which was down 66.26% to 0.0550 in late trade, Galectin Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: GALT ) which lost 43.55% to settle at 1.400 and EnteroMedics Inc (NASDAQ: ETRM ) which was down 14.64% to 0.1370 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2368 to 822 and 66 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1459 rose and 1056 declined, while 108 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 5.42% to 12.39.

In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was down 0.34% or 4.55 to $1325.85 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in November rose 5.01% or 2.24 to hit $46.91 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 5.52% or 2.57 to trade at $49.09 a barrel.

EUR/USD was down 0.01% to 1.1216, while USD/JPY rose 0.28% to 100.70.

The US Dollar Index was down 0.01% at 95.34.