Major Averages Close In The Red But Well Off Worst Levels

(RTTNews) - With traders reacting negatively to the outcome of the weekend's referendum in Greece, stocks moved mostly lower during trading on Monday. During the session, the Dow hit its lowest intraday level in five months.

Steel stocks saw substantial weakness on the day, dragging the NYSE Arca Steel Index down by 2.8 percent. With the drop, the index ended the session at a six-year closing low.

Cliffs Natural Resources (CLF) and AK Steel (AKS) turned in two of the sector's worst performances, tumbling by 8 percent and 6.8 percent, respectively.

Significant weakness was also visible among oil service stocks, as reflected by the 2.6 percent loss posted by the Philadelphia Oil Service Index. The weakness in the sector came as crude oil for August delivery plunged $4.40 to $52.53 a barrel.

Natural gas, semiconductor, electronic storage, and networking stocks also saw considerable weakness on the day, while gold stocks bucked the downtrend.

The major averages ended the day in negative territory but well off their lows for the session. The Dow dipped 46.53 points or 0.3 percent to 17,683.58, the Nasdaq slid 17.27 points or 0.3 percent to 4,991.94 and the S&P 500 fell 8.02 points or 0.4 percent to 2,068.76.