U.S. shares mixed at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.23%

Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Healthcare , Technology and Basic Materials sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Consumer Goods , Telecoms and Utilities sectors led shares lower.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.23%, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.09%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.27%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Pfizer Inc (NYSE: PFE ), which rose 1.03% or 0.31 points to trade at 30.38 at the close. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE: UNH ) added 1.01% or 1.28 points to end at 128.02 and Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL ) was up 0.76% or 0.81 points to 106.72 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS ), which lost 1.34% or 2.09 points to trade at 154.20 in late trade. Visa Inc (NYSE: V ) declined 1.10% or 0.81 points to end at 72.96 and EI du Pont de Nemours and Company (NYSE: DD ) shed 0.99% or 0.64 points to 63.93.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Staples Inc (NASDAQ: SPLS ) which rose 7.63% to 10.30, Endo International PLC (NASDAQ: ENDP ) which was up 6.83% to settle at 30.81 and Western Digital Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC ) which gained 4.16% to close at 51.34.

The worst performers were Transocean Ltd (NYSE: RIG ) which was down 5.03% to 10.00 in late trade, PEPCO Holdings Inc (NYSE: POM ) which lost 3.32% to settle at 21.24 and CF Industries Holdings Inc (NYSE: CF ) which was down 3.22% to 33.93 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were MER Telemanagement Solutions Ltd (NASDAQ: MTSL ) which rose 61.11% to 1.1600, Akorn Inc (NASDAQ: AKRX ) which was up 40.60% to settle at 26.32 and Gevo Inc (NASDAQ: GEVO ) which gained 37.21% to close at 0.5100.

The worst performers were Blue Earth Inc (NASDAQ: BBLU ) which was down 54.72% to 0.0480 in late trade, G-III Apparel Group Ltd (NASDAQ: GIII ) which lost 19.39% to settle at 44.52 and Trio Merger Corp (NASDAQ: SAEX ) which was down 15.27% to 0.710 at the close.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1770 to 1562 and 37 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1331 fell and 1245 advanced, while 55 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 3.19% to 14.23.

In commodities trading, Gold for April delivery was up 0.28% or 3.50 to $1247.70 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May fell 0.39% or 0.16 to hit $41.36 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 0.48% or 0.20 to trade at $41.74 a barrel.

EUR/USD was down 0.22% to 1.1217, while USD/JPY rose 0.31% to 112.30.

The US Dollar Index was up 0.26% at 95.65.