Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Telecoms, Utilities and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.26% to hit a new 6-month high, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.29%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.22%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Verizon Communications Inc (NYSE:VZ), which rose 2.61% or 1.48 points to trade at 58.14 at the close. Cisco Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CSCO) added 1.95% or 1.07 points to end at 55.81 and McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) was up 1.53% or 3.16 points to 209.46 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX), which lost 1.52% or 1.90 points to trade at 122.94 in late trade. Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW) declined 1.46% or 0.73 points to end at 49.43 and Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM) shed 1.06% or 0.81 points to 75.75.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Harris Corporation (NYSE:LHX) which rose 4.22% to 185.66, HCP Inc (NYSE:HCP) which was up 3.15% to settle at 32.56 and Welltower Inc (NYSE:WELL) which gained 3.01% to close at 84.20.
The worst performers were Range Resources Corp (NYSE:RRC) which was down 8.44% to 6.18 in late trade, Acuity Brands Inc (NYSE:AYI) which lost 7.84% to settle at 129.96 and Apache Corporation (NYSE:APA) which was down 6.23% to 27.38 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were FuelCell Energy Inc (NASDAQ:FCEL) which rose 127.27% to 0.550, Oasmia Pharmaceutical AB (NASDAQ:OASM) which was up 28.76% to settle at 1.455 and Sellas Life Sciences Group Inc (NASDAQ:SLS) which gained 27.83% to close at 0.1470.
The worst performers were Puyi Inc ADR (NASDAQ:PUYI) which was down 28.12% to 10.02 in late trade, ARC Group Worldwide Inc (NASDAQ:ARCW) which lost 27.84% to settle at 0.271 and CyberOptics Corporation (NASDAQ:CYBE) which was down 23.36% to 13.71 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1537 to 1477 and 28 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1577 fell and 1087 advanced, while 93 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 8.04% to 12.93 a new 1-month low.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 2.32% or 32.25 to $1421.55 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August fell 4.69% or 2.77 to hit $56.32 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract fell 0.08% or 0.05 to trade at $62.58 a barrel.
EUR/USD was up 0.04% to 1.1287, while USD/JPY rose 0.03% to 107.92.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.11% at 96.305.