Major Averages Pull Back Off Highs But Close Firmly Positive

(RTTNews) - After showing a strong move to the upside in morning trading on Monday, stocks gave back some ground in the afternoon but remained mostly positive. The gains on the day extended the upward trend seen earlier this month.

Oil service stocks showed a substantial move to the upside on the day, driving the Philadelphia Oil Service Index up by 2.3 percent. With the gain, the index reached its best closing level in almost two months.

An increase by the price of crude oil contributed to the strength in the oil service sector, with crude for April delivery climbing $0.62 to $102.82 a barrel.

The increase by the price of crude oil also contributed to strength among oil producer stocks, resulting in a 1.3 percent gain by the NYSE Arca Oil Index.

Considerable strength also emerged among electronic storage stocks, as reflected by the 1.9 gain posted by the NYSE Arca Disk Drive Index. Datalink (DTLK) and Imation (IMN) posted strong gains.

Tobacco, financial, defense, and biotech stocks also saw notable strength, while steel stocks came under pressure over the course of the session.

The major averages closed well off their highs for the session but still posted notable gains. The Dow climbed 103.84 points or 0.6 percent to 16,207.14, the Nasdaq advanced 29.56 points or 0.7 percent to 4,292.97 and the S&P 500 rose 11.36 points or 0.6 percent to 1,847.61.