U.S. shares higher at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.72%

Investing.com – U.S. equities were higher at the close on Tuesday, as gains in the Basic Materials , Industrials and Financials sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.72% to hit a new all time high, while the S&P 500 index gained 0.16%, and the NASDAQ Composite index gained 0.18%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were 3M Company (NYSE: MMM ), which rose 5.91% or 13.10 points to trade at 234.65 at the close. Caterpillar Inc (NYSE: CAT ) added 4.98% or 6.56 points to end at 138.24 and American Express Company (NYSE: AXP ) was up 1.60% or 1.48 points to 93.86 in late trade.

Biggest losers included International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM ), which lost 2.30% or 3.67 points to trade at 155.88 in late trade. General Electric Company (NYSE: GE ) declined 1.93% or 0.43 points to end at 21.89 and Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ ) shed 1.38% or 1.98 points to 141.64.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Corning Incorporated (NYSE: GLW ) which rose 6.43% to 31.94, 3M Company (NYSE: MMM ) which was up 5.91% to settle at 234.65 and Caterpillar Inc (NYSE: CAT ) which gained 4.98% to close at 138.24.

The worst performers were Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE: WHR ) which was down 10.54% to 163.26 in late trade, PACCAR Inc (NASDAQ: PCAR ) which lost 5.72% to settle at 70.38 and WW Grainger Inc (NYSE: GWW ) which was down 5.32% to 198.35 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Atossa Genetics Inc (NASDAQ: ATOS ) which rose 96.77% to 1.2200, The Bon-Ton Stores Inc (NASDAQ: BONT ) which was up 85.09% to settle at 0.611 and Aemetis Inc (NASDAQ: AMTX ) which gained 40.68% to close at 0.8300.

The worst performers were Identive Group Inc (NASDAQ: INVE ) which was down 20.00% to 3.200 in late trade, National American University (NASDAQ: NAUH ) which lost 18.37% to settle at 1.355 and Immune Design Corp (NASDAQ: IMDZ ) which was down 16.35% to 4.35 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1638 to 1441 and 137 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1243 fell and 1239 advanced, while 160 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 0.54% to 11.13.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for December delivery was down 0.21% or 2.63 to $1278.27 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 1.10% or 0.57 to hit $52.47 a barrel, while the December Brent oil contract rose 1.71% or 0.98 to trade at $58.35 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.12% to 1.1763, while USD/JPY rose 0.41% to 113.91.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.10% at 93.81.