Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Basic Materials, Oil & Gas and Technology sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.43% to hit a new 1-month high, while the S&P 500 index climbed 0.56%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.75%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT), which rose 2.62% or 1.90 points to trade at 74.34 at the close. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) added 1.42% or 0.76 points to end at 54.35 and Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) was up 1.33% or 1.39 points to 105.97 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE), which lost 1.69% or 0.50 points to trade at 29.04 in late trade. Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) declined 0.98% or 1.49 points to end at 150.54 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) shed 0.92% or 0.48 points to 51.94.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc (NYSE:FCX) which rose 10.25% to 10.22, Southwestern Energy Company (NYSE:SWN) which was up 9.27% to settle at 7.90 and Devon Energy Corporation (NYSE:DVN) which gained 8.84% to close at 26.22.
The worst performers were Mallinckrodt (NYSE:MNK) which was down 6.42% to 55.69 in late trade, Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:VRTX) which lost 4.26% to settle at 79.30 and Allergan Plc (NYSE:AGN) which was down 3.62% to 272.76 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Bio Blast Pharma Ltd (NASDAQ:ORPN) which rose 54.55% to 4.08, Linn Co LLC (NASDAQ:LNCO) which was up 50.67% to settle at 0.5876 and Venaxis Inc (NASDAQ:APPY) which gained 28.00% to close at 0.2830.
The worst performers were Moko Social (NASDAQ:MOKO) which was down 28.57% to 0.2500 in late trade, Zynerba Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:ZYNE) which lost 26.04% to settle at 10.65 and Towerstream Corporation (NASDAQ:TWER) which was down 25.57% to 0.1630 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2691 to 656 and 23 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1512 rose and 1051 declined, while 61 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 10.69% to 15.04 a new 3-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold for April delivery was up 2.60% or 32.00 to $1263.00 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 5.94% or 2.16 to hit $38.50 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 3.98% or 1.54 to trade at $40.28 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 1.07% to 1.1227, while USD/JPY fell 0.55% to 112.53.
The US Dollar Index was down 1.02% at 95.67.