Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Thursday, as gains in the Telecoms, Basic Materials and Utilities sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Oil & Gas, Financials and Industrials sectors led shares lower.
At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.29%, while the S&P 500 index declined 0.14%, and the NASDAQ Composite index climbed 0.04%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were DowDuPont Inc (NYSE:DWDP), which rose 2.01% or 1.36 points to trade at 69.02 at the close. UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (NYSE:UNH) added 1.07% or 2.78 points to end at 261.59 and Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE) was up 0.94% or 0.76 points to 81.26 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG), which lost 1.15% or 0.95 points to trade at 81.40 in late trade. 3M Company (NYSE:MMM) declined 1.14% or 2.36 points to end at 204.78 and Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) shed 1.10% or 2.59 points to 233.78.
The top performers on the S&P 500 were CenturyLink Inc (NYSE:CTL) which rose 13.11% to 20.97, Flowserve Corporation (NYSE:FLS) which was up 6.40% to settle at 48.87 and Viacom B Inc (NASDAQ:VIAB) which gained 6.01% to close at 30.34.
The worst performers were Perrigo Co (NYSE:PRGO) which was down 10.56% to 70.03 in late trade, Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ:STX) which lost 7.30% to settle at 51.02 and Coty Inc (NYSE:COTY) which was down 7.25% to 12.41 at the close.
The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Carver Bancorp Inc (NASDAQ:CARV) which rose 84.22% to 7.240, TMSR Holding Company Ltd (NASDAQ:TMSR) which was up 55.69% to settle at 6.50 and Citius Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CTXR) which gained 48.25% to close at 1.690.
The worst performers were Maiden Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ:MHLD) which was down 41.33% to 4.40 in late trade, iPass Inc (NASDAQ:IPAS) which lost 29.31% to settle at 0.2750 and Ultra Petroleum Corp (NASDAQ:UPL) which was down 25.44% to 1.260 at the close.
Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1527 to 1487 and 140 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1357 rose and 1192 declined, while 143 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.
The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 3.32% to 11.21.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.09% or 1.10 to $1219.90 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September fell 0.36% or 0.24 to hit $66.70 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract fell 0.40% or 0.29 to trade at $71.99 a barrel.
EUR/USD was down 0.71% to 1.1528, while USD/JPY rose 0.09% to 111.13.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.55% at 95.47.