U.S. shares higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.08%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.08%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.13%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.46%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS ), which rose 2.98% or 4.98 points to trade at 172.03 at the close. Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE: XOM ) added 2.20% or 1.50 points to end at 69.69 and DowDuPont Inc (NYSE: DWDP ) was up 1.94% or 1.04 points to 54.52 in late trade.

Biggest losers included UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE: UNH ), which lost 2.26% or 5.63 points to trade at 243.49 in late trade. The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE: TRV ) declined 1.99% or 2.38 points to end at 117.37 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE: MRK ) shed 1.07% or 0.82 points to 75.59.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Arconic Inc (NYSE: ARNC ) which rose 10.08% to 18.56, General Electric Company (NYSE: GE ) which was up 6.34% to settle at 8.05 and Coty Inc (NYSE: COTY ) which gained 5.95% to close at 6.95.

The worst performers were Hologic Inc (NASDAQ: HOLX ) which was down 6.52% to 38.42 in late trade, Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT ) which lost 3.91% to settle at 69.50 and NRG Energy Inc (NYSE: NRG ) which was down 3.76% to 38.11 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Synergy Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: SGYP ) which rose 93.15% to 0.220, Aoxin Tianli Group Inc (NASDAQ: ABAC ) which was up 46.24% to settle at 1.3600 and Advaxis Inc (NASDAQ: ADXS ) which gained 55.26% to close at 0.29.

The worst performers were Francescas Holdings (NASDAQ: FRAN ) which was down 22.02% to 0.76 in late trade, Uxin Ltd (NASDAQ: UXIN ) which lost 20.16% to settle at 3.88 and Draper Oakwood Technology Acquisition Inc Class A (NASDAQ: RBZ ) which was down 17.31% to 1.72 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2185 to 910 and 48 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1950 rose and 728 declined, while 43 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 8.65% to 23.22.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.29% or 3.75 to $1285.05 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in February rose 2.64% or 1.20 to hit $46.61 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract rose 2.34% or 1.26 to trade at $55.06 a barrel.

EUR/USD was down 1.03% to 1.1343, while USD/JPY fell 0.56% to 109.09.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.69% at 96.395.