U.S. shares higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.86%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.86%, while the S&P 500 index added 1.45%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 2.08%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS ), which rose 3.33% or 4.75 points to trade at 147.23 at the close. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC ) added 2.25% or 1.10 points to end at 49.91 and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT ) was up 2.18% or 6.65 points to 311.21 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Amgen Inc (NASDAQ: AMGN ), which lost 1.58% or 3.82 points to trade at 237.19 in late trade. Coca-Cola Co (NYSE: KO ) declined 1.55% or 0.96 points to end at 61.04 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE: MRK ) shed 0.49% or 0.38 points to 76.53.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Omnicom Group Inc (NYSE: OMC ) which rose 14.19% to 90.12, Enphase Energy Inc (NASDAQ: ENPH ) which was up 12.03% to settle at 161.89 and Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc (NYSE: CMG ) which gained 10.16% to close at 1608.74.

The worst performers were CVS Health Corp (NYSE: CVS ) which was down 5.45% to 104.79 in late trade, Incyte Corporation (NASDAQ: INCY ) which lost 2.55% to settle at 68.28 and CDW Corp (NASDAQ: CDW ) which was down 2.46% to 189.96 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were US Ecology Inc (NASDAQ: ECOL ) which rose 67.73% to 47.25, Tritium Dcfc Ltd (NASDAQ: DCFC ) which was up 64.57% to settle at 15.70 and Gracell Biotechnologies Inc. (NASDAQ: GRCL ) which gained 34.10% to close at 4.09.

The worst performers were Zosano Pharma Corp (NASDAQ: ZSAN ) which was down 48.56% to 0.2431 in late trade, QuinStreet Inc (NASDAQ: QNST ) which lost 26.85% to settle at 11.39 and Society Pass Inc (NASDAQ: SOPA ) which was down 23.72% to 3.57 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2389 to 823 and 141 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2743 rose and 1103 declined, while 178 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 6.90% to 19.96.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.34% or 6.20 to $1834.10 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 0.72% or 0.64 to hit $90.00 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.23% or 0.21 to trade at $91.84 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.02% to 1.1424, while USD/JPY rose 0.04% to 115.54.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.09% at 95.555.