Major Averages Close At Their Best Levels Of The Day

(RTTNews) - After ending the previous session notably higher, stocks saw some further upside over the course of the trading day on Thursday. The markets continued to benefit from easing geopolitical concerns, although buying interest was somewhat subdued.

Housing stocks showed a significant move to the upside over the course of the trading day, driving the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index up by 1.7 percent. With the gain, the index continued to recover from the sell-off seen last month.

Radian Group (RDN), Standard Pacific (SPF), and Ryland Group (RYL) turned in some of the housing sector's best performances.

Considerable strength was also visible among airline stocks, as reflected by the 1.4 percent gain posted by the NYSE Arca Airline Index. Industry giants United Continental (UAL) and American Airlines (AAL) posted standout gains.

Biotechnology stocks also saw notable strength on the day, resulting in a 1.3 percent gain by the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index. The gain lifted the index to its best closing level in over five months.

Computer hardware, healthcare, and railroad stocks also turned in strong performances, while oil service and mining stocks bucked the uptrend.

The major averages continued to move higher going into the close, ending the session at their best levels of the day. The Dow climbed 61.78 points or 0.4 percent to 16,713.58, the Nasdaq rose 18.88 points or 0.4 percent to 4,453.00 and the S&P 500 advanced 8.46 points or 0.4 percent to 1,955.18.