Major Averages Close Mixed After Choppy Trading Day

(RTTNews) - After ending the previous session roughly flat, stocks turned in another lackluster performance during trading on Tuesday before closing mostly lower. Traders remained reluctant to make any significant moves amid another quiet day on the U.S. economic front.

Many of the major sectors ended the day showing only modest moves, although considerable weakness was visible among gold stocks. The NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index fell by 2.3 percent to its lowest closing level in almost a month.

The weakness among gold stocks came amid a decrease by the price of the precious metal, with gold for December delivery sliding $9.90 to $1,271.20 an ounce.

Steel stocks also came under pressure on the day, dragging the NYSE Arca Steel Index down by 1.8 percent. A sharp drop by the price of crude oil also weighed on the oil service sector.

Meanwhile, significant strength emerged among networking stocks, as reflected by the 1 percent gain posted by the NYSE Arca Networking Index. Emulex (ELX) helped lead the sector higher after announcing that its board has approved a $200 million share repurchase program.

The major averages ended the session mixed, with the Nasdaq closing just above the unchanged line. While the Nasdaq inched up 0.13 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 3,919.92, the Dow edged down 32.43 points or 0.2 percent to 15,750.67 and the S&P 500 slipped 4.20 points or 0.2 percent to 1,767.69.