U.S. equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Utilities, Basic Materials and Healthcare sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.59% to hit a new 6-month high, while the S&P 500 index gained 1.54%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 0.98%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO), which rose 4.21% or 2.07 points to trade at 51.19 at the close. Dow Inc (NYSE:DOW) added 4.13% or 1.95 points to end at 49.22 and International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM) was up 3.87% or 4.78 points to 128.18 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), which lost 2.07% or 2.78 points to trade at 131.40 in late trade. Salesforce.com Inc (NYSE:CRM) declined 1.62% or 4.56 points to end at 276.69 and Walmart Inc (NYSE:WMT) gained 0.06% or 0.09 points to 147.68.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were DXC Technology Co (NYSE:DXC) which rose 11.63% to 22.37, Brown Forman (NYSE:BFb) which was up 10.04% to settle at 79.89 and Lam Research Corp (NASDAQ:LRCX) which gained 6.50% to close at 362.70.

The worst performers were Cimarex Energy Co (NYSE:XEC) which was down 6.12% to 27.13 in late trade, Diamondback Energy Inc (NASDAQ:FANG) which lost 5.61% to settle at 36.32 and Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE:MRO) which was down 3.76% to 5.12 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Corcept Therapeutics Incorporated (NASDAQ:CORT) which rose 58.45% to 19.87, Lonestar Resources Ltd (NASDAQ:LONE) which was up 39.09% to settle at 0.371 and Vera Bradley Inc (NASDAQ:VRA) which gained 31.98% to close at 7.14.

The worst performers were Sunesis Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:SNSS) which was down 37.00% to 0.1686 in late trade, Amarin Corporation PLC (NASDAQ:AMRN) which lost 30.58% to settle at 5.04 and Jiayin Group Inc (NASDAQ:JFIN) which was down 22.67% to 2.90 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1943 to 1090 and 101 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1653 rose and 1160 declined, while 82 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 1.72% to 26.57 a new 1-month high.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 1.50% or 29.65 to $1949.25 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in October fell 2.74% or 1.17 to hit $41.59 a barrel, while the November Brent oil contract rose 0.09% or 0.04 to trade at $44.41 a barrel.

EUR/USD was down 0.00% to 1.1852, while USD/JPY fell 0.03% to 106.15.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.33% at 92.645.

Reference by: Investing.com