U.S. shares mixed at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.13%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.13% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.01%, and the NASDAQ Composite index lost 0.34%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE: UNH ), which rose 1.16% or 1.62 points to trade at 141.48 at the close. Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE: VZ ) added 0.97% or 0.54 points to end at 56.00 and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS ) was up 0.64% or 1.00 points to 157.92 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Home Depot Inc (NYSE: HD ), which lost 0.95% or 1.28 points to trade at 133.56 in late trade. Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL ) declined 0.56% or 0.55 points to end at 96.87 and Boeing Company (NYSE: BA ) shed 0.54% or 0.70 points to 130.11.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were CSX Corporation (NASDAQ: CSX ) which rose 4.40% to 28.21, Humana Inc (NYSE: HUM ) which was up 4.26% to settle at 161.30 and Level 3 Communications Inc (NYSE: LVLT ) which gained 3.53% to close at 56.30.

The worst performers were Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE: CHK ) which was down 4.81% to 4.350 in late trade, Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc (NYSE: DO ) which lost 4.10% to settle at 25.04 and Host Hotels & Resorts Inc (NYSE: HST ) which was down 3.96% to 16.48 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were EnteroMedics Inc (NASDAQ: ETRM ) which rose 36.28% to 0.4188, Trio Merger Corp (NASDAQ: SAEX ) which was up 26.44% to settle at 0.240 and Ocean Shore Holding Co (NASDAQ: OSHC ) which gained 26.28% to close at 21.38.

The worst performers were Avinger Inc (NASDAQ: AVGR ) which was down 39.72% to 6.89 in late trade, SemiLEDS Corporation (NASDAQ: LEDS ) which lost 16.26% to settle at 6.8000 and Clean Diesel Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: CDTI ) which was down 14.73% to 0.5801 at the close.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1762 to 1509 and 33 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1504 fell and 1048 advanced, while 72 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 3.76% to 13.04 a new 6-month low.

In commodities trading, Gold for August delivery was up 0.61% or 8.20 to $1343.50 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 3.55% or 1.66 to hit $45.14 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 3.80% or 1.84 to trade at $46.63 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.31% to 1.1095, while USD/JPY fell 0.26% to 104.42.

The US Dollar Index was down 0.24% at 96.32.