NEW YORK, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Wall Street's major averages finished mixed on Wednesday, trying to recover from prior session's sell-off.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 58.06 points, or 0.18 percent, to 32,798.4. The S&P 500 added 5.64 points, or 0.14 percent, to 3,992.01. The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 45.67 points, or 0.40 percent, to 11,576.0.

Seven of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended in green, with real estate and technology up 1.32 percent and 0.84 percent, respectively, outpacing the rest. Energy dropped 1.02 percent, the worst-performing group.

Investors looked to the second day of Fed Chair Jerome Powell's semiannual monetary policy testimony to the U.S. Congress.

Powell said Wednesday the central bank has not made any decision on the size of a potential interest rate hike later this month as he spoke to the House Financial Services panel.

"We have not made any decision about the March meeting. We're not going to do that until we see the additional data," said the Fed chief.

On Tuesday, Powell told the Senate Banking Committee that "the ultimate level of interest rates is likely to be higher than previously anticipated," and that the Fed would be prepared to increase rates at a faster pace if warranted by the "totality" of the data.

U.S. equities fell sharply on Tuesday with the Dow closing down more than 570 points following Powell's hawkish comments.

On the economic front, payroll services firm ADP reported Wednesday that U.S. private payrolls increased by 242,000 jobs in February. The reading was higher than market consensus.

The more closely-watched February U.S. employment situation report, which will include employment data from both the private sector and the government, is slated for release on Friday by the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics.