U.S. shares mixed at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.29%

Investing.com – U.S. equities were mixed at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Telecoms , Technology and Consumer Services sectors propelled shares higher while losses in the Financials , Oil & Gas and Utilities sectors led shares lower.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.29%, while the S&P 500 index fell 0.16%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.36%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL ), which rose 2.69% or 2.88 points to trade at 109.99 at the close. Visa Inc (NYSE: V ) added 2.16% or 1.70 points to end at 80.10 and Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS ) was up 1.46% or 1.43 points to 99.13 in late trade.

Biggest losers included JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM ), which lost 2.48% or 1.97 points to trade at 77.39 in late trade. Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE: GS ) declined 2.39% or 5.04 points to end at 206.15 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE: MRK ) shed 1.60% or 1.02 points to 62.63.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT ) which rose 6.40% to 76.01, NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA ) which was up 6.31% to settle at 91.63 and TJX Companies Inc (NYSE: TJX ) which gained 3.97% to close at 76.41.

The worst performers were Mallinckrodt (NYSE: MNK ) which was down 12.07% to 59.62 in late trade, H&R Block Inc (NYSE: HRB ) which lost 7.01% to settle at 22.23 and Regions Financial Corporation (NYSE: RF ) which was down 4.66% to 12.90 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Globus Maritime Ltd (NASDAQ: GLBS ) which rose 188.06% to 14.2300, China Natural Resources Inc (NASDAQ: CHNR ) which was up 183.24% to settle at 4.9000 and Sino-Global Shipping America Ltd (NASDAQ: SINO ) which gained 178.10% to close at 6.7300.

The worst performers were Akers Biosc (NASDAQ: AKER ) which was down 22.41% to 2.250 in late trade, Endologix Inc (NASDAQ: ELGX ) which lost 20.53% to settle at 7.82 and PDL BioPharma Inc (NASDAQ: PDLI ) which was down 18.01% to 3.050 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1586 to 1574 and 91 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1342 rose and 1138 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 2.77% to 13.74.

In commodities trading, Gold for December delivery was up 0.03% or 0.35 to $1224.85 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December fell 0.81% or 0.37 to hit $45.44 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract fell 1.06% or 0.50 to trade at $46.45 a barrel.

EUR/USD was down 0.34% to 1.0688, while USD/JPY fell 0.10% to 109.08.

The US Dollar Index was up 0.19% at 100.39.