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

At the close in NYSE, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.86%, while the S&P 500 index added 1.45%, and the NASDAQ Composite index added 2.08%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS), which rose 3.33% or 4.75 points to trade at 147.23 at the close. Intel Corporation (NASDAQ:INTC) added 2.25% or 1.10 points to end at 49.91 and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) was up 2.18% or 6.65 points to 311.21 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Amgen Inc (NASDAQ:AMGN), which lost 1.58% or 3.82 points to trade at 237.19 in late trade. Coca-Cola Co (NYSE:KO) declined 1.55% or 0.96 points to end at 61.04 and Merck & Company Inc (NYSE:MRK) shed 0.49% or 0.38 points to 76.53.

The top performers on the S&P 500 were Omnicom Group Inc (NYSE:OMC) which rose 14.19% to 90.12, Enphase Energy Inc (NASDAQ:ENPH) which was up 12.03% to settle at 161.89 and Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc (NYSE:CMG) which gained 10.16% to close at 1608.74.

The worst performers were CVS Health Corp (NYSE:CVS) which was down 5.45% to 104.79 in late trade, Incyte Corporation (NASDAQ:INCY) which lost 2.55% to settle at 68.28 and CDW Corp (NASDAQ:CDW) which was down 2.46% to 189.96 at the close.

The top performers on the NASDAQ Composite were US Ecology Inc (NASDAQ:ECOL) which rose 67.73% to 47.25, Tritium Dcfc Ltd (NASDAQ:DCFC) which was up 64.57% to settle at 15.70 and Gracell Biotechnologies Inc. (NASDAQ:GRCL) which gained 34.10% to close at 4.09.

The worst performers were Zosano Pharma Corp (NASDAQ:ZSAN) which was down 48.56% to 0.2431 in late trade, QuinStreet Inc (NASDAQ:QNST) which lost 26.85% to settle at 11.39 and Society Pass Inc (NASDAQ:SOPA) which was down 23.72% to 3.57 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 2389 to 823 and 141 ended unchanged; on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange, 2743 rose and 1103 declined, while 178 ended unchanged on the New York Stock Exchange.

The CBOE Volatility Index, which measures the implied volatility of S&P 500 options, was down 6.90% to 19.96.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.34% or 6.20 to $1834.10 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in March rose 0.72% or 0.64 to hit $90.00 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 0.23% or 0.21 to trade at $91.84 a barrel.

EUR/USD was up 0.02% to 1.1424, while USD/JPY rose 0.04% to 115.54.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.09% at 95.555.

(SOURCE)