Stocks rose on Wall Street Thursday pushed by commodity producers as oil and metals prices continued to rise.

'Capital is going to go where the opportunity is and the opportunity right now is in the energy and material sector,' Gary Wolfer of Univest Wealth Management & Trust told Bloomberg financial news.

Crude oil broke $124 a barrel Thursday, pushing up energy shares but limiting gains in other sectors.

Discount retailer Wal-Mart also gained after it said sales increased at its existing stores.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average added 52.43 points, or 0.4 percent, to 12,866.78. The broader Standard & Poor 500 Index gained 5.11 points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,397.68. The technology- heavy Nasdaq Composite Index picked up 12.75 points, or 0.5 percent, to 2,451.24.

The dollar rose to 64.96 euro cents from 64.95 Wednesday, but inched lower to 103.74 Japanese yen from 104.73.