Oct 17 (Reuters) - The Dow Industrials breached the 23,000 mark for the first time on Tuesday, helped by a rally in shares of UnitedHealth and Johnson & Johnson.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 39.3 points, or 0.17 percent, to 22,996.26. The S&P 500 gained 0.42 points, or 0.01 percent, to 2,558.06. The Nasdaq Composite added 3.98 points, or 0.06 percent, to 6,627.99.

(Reporting by Tanya Agrawal; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)

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