Stocks advanced on Wednesday as a weaker U.S. dollar lifted commodity prices, boosting shares of natural resource companies, including oil and mining stocks.

The boost from the dollar also helped multinational companies, whose profits tend to benefit when they translate overseas earnings back into the U.S. currency.

Coca-Cola Co jumped 2.3 percent, while IBM Corp shot up 1.2 percent.

U.S. front-month crude was up $1.39, or 1.8 percent, at $71.30, while the U.S. dollar index <.DXY> shed 0.7 percent.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> gained 98.63 points, or 1.17 percent, to 8,545.63. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> gained 9.88 points, or 1.07 percent, to 929.20. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> gained 21.13 points, or 1.15 percent, to 1,856.17.

(Reporting by Ellis Mnyandu; Editing by Padraic Cassidy)