U.S. shares higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.36%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.36%, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.36%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.34%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Nike Inc (NYSE: NKE ), which rose 1.14% or 0.95 points to trade at 84.04 at the close. JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM ) added 1.13% or 1.13 points to end at 100.71 and McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD ) was up 1.00% or 1.88 points to 189.39 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE: VZ ), which lost 2.96% or 1.80 points to trade at 59.08 in late trade. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC ) declined 0.09% or 0.05 points to end at 53.11 and Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO ) shed 0.06% or 0.03 points to 46.58.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were PVH Corp (NYSE: PVH ) which rose 14.76% to 127.26, Accenture plc (NYSE: ACN ) which was up 5.20% to settle at 175.12 and Pioneer Natural Resources Company (NYSE: PXD ) which gained 4.14% to close at 152.91.

The worst performers were Nielsen Holdings PLC (NYSE: NLSN ) which was down 11.15% to 23.66 in late trade, Lennar Corporation (NYSE: LEN ) which lost 3.70% to settle at 49.76 and Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE: VZ ) which was down 2.96% to 59.08 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Euro Tech Holdings Company Limited (NASDAQ: CLWT ) which rose 102.06% to 6.850, Tricida Inc (NASDAQ: TCDA ) which was up 57.04% to settle at 37.80 and China Internet Nationwide Financial Services Inc (NASDAQ: CIFS ) which gained 46.93% to close at 4.07.

The worst performers were Proteon Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ: PRTO ) which was down 85.60% to 0.50 in late trade, Reebonz Holding Ltd (NASDAQ: RBZ ) which lost 48.89% to settle at 14.31 and Osmotica Pharmaceuticals PLC (NASDAQ: OSMT ) which was down 40.73% to 4.00 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1977 to 1004 and 120 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1692 rose and 943 declined, while 83 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 4.75% to 14.43.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was down 1.61% or 21.25 to $1295.65 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May unchanged 0.00% or 0.00 to hit $59.41 a barrel, while the June Brent oil contract fell 0.07% or 0.05 to trade at $67.19 a barrel.

EUR/USD was down 0.20% to 1.1224, while USD/JPY rose 0.09% to 110.61.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.52% at 96.787.