U.S. stocks closed mixed after wavering in a narrow range Wednesday, as investors digested the country's strong employment data.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 69.03 points, or 0.33 percent, to 20,855.73. The S&P 500 lost 5.41 points, or 0.23 percent, to 2,362.98. The Nasdaq Composite Index edged up 3.62 points, or 0.06 percent, to 5,837.55.

U.S. private sector employment increased by 298,000 jobs from January to February, on a seasonally adjusted basis, well above market consensus of 180,000, said the February ADP National Employment Report Wednesday.

The ADP figure is widely seen as a pre-indicator for the non-farm payrolls report due on Friday.

"Headline job growth is a good sign the economy is briskly moving along, and very well could speed up the pace of Fed action through 2017," said Jay Morelock, an economist at FTN Financial, in a note.

Market expectations for a March rate hike soared to 90.8 percent after the ADP report, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said last Friday that an interest rate hike in this month's monetary policy will likely be appropriate, if the economy progresses in line with officials' expectation.

Overseas, European equities also finished narrowly mixed Wednesday amid fresh economic data from Germany and the U.K.. German benchmark DAX index at Frankfurt Stock Exchange edged up 0.01 percent, while British benchmark FTSE 100 Index fell 0.06 percent.

In Asia, Chinese stocks ended a two-day winning streak to close lower on Wednesday after investors retreated from a previous rally. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index was down 0.05 percent to end at 3,240.66 points.