Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Technology, Industrials and Oil & Gas sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Telecoms, Healthcare and Basic Materials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.09%, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.14%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.68%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC), which rose 3.80% or 1.82 points to trade at 49.76 at the close. Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX) added 1.90% or 2.12 points to end at 113.51 and The Travelers Companies Inc (NYSE:TRV) was up 1.11% or 1.36 points to 124.38 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK), which lost 3.01% or 2.27 points to trade at 73.17 in late trade. Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) declined 2.87% or 1.21 points to end at 40.95 and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) shed 1.37% or 1.77 points to 127.03.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were Pacific Gas & Electric Co (NYSE:PCG) which rose 74.59% to 13.95, Xilinx Inc (NASDAQ:XLNX) which was up 18.44% to settle at 106.06 and Lam Research Corp (NASDAQ:LRCX) which gained 15.70% to close at 161.20.
The worst performers were Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc (NYSE:FCX) which was down 13.08% to 10.70 in late trade, McCormick & Company Incorporated (NYSE:MKC) which lost 10.54% to settle at 124.35 and Citrix Systems Inc (NASDAQ:CTXS) which was down 6.26% to 101.86 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were China Techfaith Wireless Communication Technology Ltd (NASDAQ:CNTF) which rose 29.52% to 1.3600, Kazia Therapeutics Ltd ADR (NASDAQ:KZIA) which was up 27.59% to settle at 3.700 and Aslan Pharmaceuticals Ltd ADR (NASDAQ:ASLN) which gained 24.69% to close at 3.99.
The worst performers were Apricus Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ:SEEL) which was down 41.70% to 3.850 in late trade, Helios and Matheson Analytics Inc (NASDAQ:HMNY) which lost 25.00% to settle at 0.0075 and NeuroMetrix Inc (NASDAQ:NURO) which was down 23.26% to 0.990 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2018 to 1006 and 106 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1583 rose and 1032 declined, while 88 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 3.23% to 18.89.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for February delivery was down 0.32% or 4.05 to $1279.95 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 0.99% or 0.52 to hit $53.14 a barrel, while the March Brent oil contract fell 0.10% or 0.06 to trade at $61.08 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.58% to 1.1315, while USD/JPY fell 0.00% to 109.58.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.45% at 96.203.