Major Averages Close Firmly Positive But Off Best Levels

(RTTNews) - After ending the previous session mostly higher, stocks saw some further upside during trading on Tuesday. With the strong gains on the day, the major averages further offset the sharp pullback that was seen last week.

Oil service stocks saw substantial strength on the day, benefiting from an increase by the price of crude oil. Reflecting the strength in the sector, the Philadelphia Oil Service Index surged up by 3.1 percent.

Rowan (RDC), Transocean (RIG), and Helmerich & Payne (HP) turned in some of the oil service sector's best performances on the day.

Considerable strength was also visible among biotechnology stocks, as reflected by the 3.4 percent gain posted by the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index. The index rebounded after ending the previous session at its lowest closing level in well over a month.

Banking stocks also showed a strong move to the upside, resulting in a 3 percent gain by the Dow Jones Banks Index. Comerica (CMA) and Regions Financial (RF) posted standout gains.

Brokerage, electronic storage, airline and telecom stocks also turned in strong performances, reflecting broad based buying interest on Wall Street.

The major averages ended the day firmly in positive territory but off their highs for the session. The Dow advanced 156.41 points or 0.9 percent to 17,524.91, the Nasdaq climbed 43.13 points or 0.9 percent to 4,995.36 and the S&P 500 jumped 21.47 points or 1.1 percent to 2,043.41.