Major Averages Close Modestly Higher After Seeing Early Weakness

(RTTNews) - After recovering from an early move to the downside, stocks moved modestly higher over the course of the trading day on Wednesday. Buying interest was somewhat subdued, but the S&P 500 still managed to reach a new record closing high.

While most of the major sectors ended the day showing only modest moves, considerable strength was visible among biotechnology stocks. The NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index rose by 1.4 percent to its best closing level in two months.

Exact Sciences (EXAS) helped to lead the biotech sector higher, with the molecular diagnostics company surging up by 6.4 percent.

Brokerage stocks also showed a notable move to the upside, driving the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index up by 1 percent. Piper Jaffray (PJC) and MarketAxess (MKTX) turned in two of the brokerage sector's best performances.

Retail and computer hardware stocks also saw some strength on the day, while modest weakness was visible among telecom and oil stocks.

The major averages moved roughly sideways going into the close, hovering in positive territory. The Dow edged up 15.19 points or 0.1 percent to 16,737.53, the Nasdaq climbed 17.56 points or 0.4 percent to 4,251.64 and the S&P 500 rose 3.64 points or 0.2 percent to 1,927.88.