Wall Street ends broadly lower

US stocks closed lower on Wednesday, dropping in a broad decline as the outcome of negotiations between Greece and its international creditors remained up in the air, prompting investors to drop riskier assets like equities. The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI fell 178 points, or 0.98 per cent, to 17,966.07, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 15.62 points, or 0.74 per cent, to 2,108.58 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC dropped 37.68 points, or 0.73 per cent, to 5,122.41. All of the 10 major S&P 500 sectors were lower, with the materials index .SPLRCM leading declines with a 1.3 per cent drop. Declining issues outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by 2,154 to 880, for a 2.45-to-1 ratio on the downside; on the Nasdaq, 1,987 issues fell and 784 advanced for a 2.53-to-1 ratio favoring decliners. The S&P 500 posted 17 new 52-week highs and 4 new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 113 new highs and 27 new lows. About 5.5 billion shares traded on all US platforms, according to Reuters.