Major Averages Close Higher Following Lackluster Session

(RTTNews) - Stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading day on Thursday but managed to end the session mostly higher ahead of the long holiday weekend. The gains on the day partly offset the losses posted in the two previous sessions.

Oil service stocks turned in some of the market's best performances on the day, driving the Philadelphia Oil Service Index up by 1.7 percent. With the gain, the index reached its best closing level in almost a month.

The strength among oil service stocks came despite a decrease by the price of crude oil, as crude for May delivery fell $0.95 to $49.14 a barrel.

Considerable strength was also visible among natural gas stocks, which moved higher along with the price of their associated commodity.

With natural gas for May delivery climbing $0.108 to $2.713 per million BTUs, the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index advanced by 1.7 percent.

Steel, housing, and computer hardware stocks also saw notable strength on the day, while weakness among trucking, airline, and gold stocks helped to limit the upside for the markets.

The major averages closed in positive territory but well off their highs for the session. The Dow climbed 65.06 points or 0.4 percent to 17,763.24, the Nasdaq edged up 6.71 points or 0.1 percent to 4,886.94 and the S&P 500 rose 7.27 points or 0.4 percent to 2,066.96.