U.S. shares mixed at close of trade; Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.60%

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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.60%, while the S&P 500 index added 0.17%, and the NASDAQ Composite index declined 0.81%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Chevron Corp (NYSE: CVX ), which rose 7.18% or 6.12 points to trade at 91.39 at the close. Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE: XOM ) added 5.06% or 2.15 points to end at 44.65 and Nike Inc (NYSE: NKE ) was up 2.83% or 2.71 points to 98.36 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL ), which lost 1.38% or 5.43 points to trade at 388.00 in late trade. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT ) declined 1.35% or 2.85 points to end at 208.75 and Visa Inc Class A (NYSE: V ) shed 1.00% or 1.99 points to 196.48.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Occidental Petroleum Corporation (NYSE: OXY ) which rose 10.96% to 17.41, Cimarex Energy Co (NYSE: XEC ) which was up 10.91% to settle at 27.25 and Devon Energy Corporation (NYSE: DVN ) which gained 10.52% to close at 11.35.

The worst performers were FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE: FE ) which was down 16.99% to 34.25 in late trade, Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: VRTX ) which lost 3.86% to settle at 291.40 and Maxim Integrated Products Inc (NASDAQ: MXIM ) which was down 3.32% to 69.00 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were Midatech Pharma PLC ADR (NASDAQ: MTP ) which rose 152.94% to 4.3000, Novan Inc (NASDAQ: NOVN ) which was up 78.26% to settle at 1.2300 and Histogenics Corp (NASDAQ: OCGN ) which gained 61.25% to close at 0.3999.

The worst performers were BIO-Key International Inc (NASDAQ: BKYI ) which was down 28.57% to 0.6200 in late trade, Biomerica Inc (NASDAQ: BMRA ) which lost 24.34% to settle at 9.110 and ACADIA Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ: ACAD ) which was down 19.36% to 44.69 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2207 to 673 and 64 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 1636 rose and 1086 declined, while 52 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index , which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was up 1.55% to 24.84.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was up 1.41% or 25.70 to $1843.10 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 1.49% or 0.61 to hit $41.53 a barrel, while the September Brent oil contract unchanged 0.00% or 0.00 to trade at $43.97 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.03% to 1.1529, while USD/JPY rose 0.02% to 106.78.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.68% at 95.118.