Major Averages Close Mixed After Choppy Trading Day

(RTTNews) - After recovering from an early move to the downside, stocks showed a lack of direction throughout the remainder of the trading session on Wednesday. The choppy trading came amid another relatively quiet news day.

While many of the major sectors ended the day showing only modest moves, substantial strength was visible among gold stocks. The NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index surged up 2.8 percent to its best closing level in over four months.

The strength in the gold sector came amid a notable increase by the price of the precious metal, with gold for April delivery climbing $23.80 to $1,370.50 an ounce.

Networking and electronic storage stocks also moved to the upside on the day, contributing to the gain posted by the tech-heavy Nasdaq.

Considerable strength was also visible among utilities stocks, as reflected by the 1.2 percent gain posted by the Philadelphia Utility Sector Index. The gain by the index came after it ended the previous session at its lowest closing level in a month.

The major averages ended the day on opposite sides of the unchanged line. While the Dow edged down 11.17 points or 0.1 percent to 16,340.08, the Nasdaq rose 16.14 points or 0.4 percent to 4,323.33 and the S&P 500 crept up 0.57 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 1,868.20.