Major Averages Close Higher But Well Off Best Levels

(RTTNews) - With traders shrugging off a continued decrease by the price of crude oil, stocks managed to end Thursday's trading moderately higher. The gains on the day partly offset the losses posted in the three previous sessions.

Steel stocks saw substantial strength on the day, resulting in a 2.6 percent jump by the NYSE Arca Steel Index. With the gain, the index climbed further off the seven-year closing low set on Tuesday.

L.B. Foster (FSTR) turned in one of the steel sector's best performances after announcing its Board of Directors authorized the repurchase of up to $30 million worth of its common shares.

Considerable strength was also visible among electronic storage stocks, as reflected by the 1.4 percent gain posted by the NYSE Arca Disk Drive Index. Violin Memory (VMEM) posted a standout gain, soaring by 7.8 percent.

On the other hand, utilities stocks came under pressure on the day, dragging the Dow Jones Utilities Average down by 1.6 percent. Con Edison (ED) and American Electric Power (AEP) posted notable losses.

Networking, chemical, and tobacco stocks also saw significant weakness, with Ciena (CIEN) leading the networking sector lower after providing disappointing guidance.

The major averages pulled back well off their highs going into the close but still finished the day in positive territory. The Dow climbed 82.45 points or 0.5 percent to 17,574.75, the Nasdaq rose 22.31 points or 0.4 percent to 5,045.17 and the S&P 500 edged up 4.61 points or 0.2 percent to 2,052.23.