US stocks advanced in a choppy session on Wednesday as a rally in bank shares and The Travellers, a Dow component, overshadowed Apple's unexpected drop and weakness in the technology sector. Equities staged a turnaround in the face of a drop in Apple, the largest US company by market capitalisation and a big weight in both the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq. Apple's stock fell 4.2 percent to $551.74, after dropping as low as $545.56.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 123.74 points, or 0.96 percent, to 13,075.52. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 6.92 points, or 0.49 percent, to 1,411.97. But the Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 9.51 points, or 0.32 percent, to 2,987.17. Banking shares were the best performers, led by a 6.4 percent climb in Citigroup to $36.48 after the company said it will cut 11,000 jobs world-wide, or about 4 percent of its workforce. The KBW Bank Index rose 2.1 percent. Bank of America shares shot up 5.1 percent to $10.40 after hitting a new 52-week high at $10.44.

Copyright Reuters, 2012