U.S. shares higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.80%

Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Telecoms , Utilities and Technology sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.80%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.94%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.89%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE: XOM ), which rose 2.24% or 1.79 points to trade at 81.72 at the close. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE: UNH ) added 1.96% or 4.50 points to end at 233.71 and Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE: VZ ) was up 1.77% or 0.82 points to 47.20 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Nike Inc (NYSE: NKE ), which lost 0.04% or 0.03 points to trade at 67.92 in late trade. Chevron Corp (NYSE: CVX ) added 0.08% or 0.10 points to end at 128.82 and Visa Inc (NYSE: V ) gained 0.12% or 0.16 points to 131.00.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were CenturyLink Inc (NYSE: CTL ) which rose 7.54% to 19.40, Discovery Communications C Inc (NASDAQ: DISCK ) which was up 6.92% to settle at 22.57 and Discovery Inc Class A (NASDAQ: DISCA ) which gained 6.91% to close at 23.82.

The worst performers were L Brands Inc (NYSE: LB ) which was down 7.15% to 31.68 in late trade, TechnipFMC PLC (NYSE: FTI ) which lost 5.55% to settle at 31.65 and Booking Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: BKNG ) which was down 4.74% to 2080.02 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were ARMO Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ: ARMO ) which rose 67.00% to 49.80, Turtle Beach Corp (NASDAQ: HEAR ) which was up 64.55% to settle at 11.420 and Cherokee Inc (NASDAQ: CHKE ) which gained 28.77% to close at 0.94.

The worst performers were Amedica Corp (NASDAQ: AMDA ) which was down 52.70% to 1.140 in late trade, Integrated Media Technology Ltd (NASDAQ: IMTE ) which lost 32.85% to settle at 11.18 and Stellar Biotechnologies Inc (NASDAQ: SBOT ) which was down 31.45% to 3.880 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2177 to 886 and 128 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1498 rose and 1050 declined, while 112 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 1.86% to 13.17 a new 3-month low.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for June delivery was up 0.63% or 8.30 to $1321.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in June rose 0.35% or 0.25 to hit $71.39 a barrel, while the July Brent oil contract rose 0.30% or 0.23 to trade at $77.44 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.60% to 1.1921, while USD/JPY fell 0.28% to 109.41.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.42% at 92.56.