Major Averages Close Modestly Lower But Well Off Lows

(RTTNews) - While selling pressure remained relatively subdued, stocks moved modestly lower over the course of the trading day on Tuesday. The losses on the day partly offset the strength that was seen in the previous session.

A majority of the major sector indices ended the day in the red, although most showed only modest moves to the downside.

However, significant weakness was visible among electronic storage stocks, as reflected by the 1.4 percent loss posted by the NYSE Arca Disk Drive Index. Hutchinson Technology (HTCH) and Western Digital (WDC) posted notable losses.

Natural gas stocks also came under pressure on the day, dragging, the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index down by 1.1 percent. The weakness in the sector came despite an increase by the price of natural gas.

Networking, oil, and airline stocks saw more moderate weakness, while gold stocks bucked the downtrend. The NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index surged up by 1.9 percent to a five-month closing high.

The major averages ended the day in negative territory but well off their lows for the session. The Dow edged down 9.44 points or 0.1 percent to 16,560.54, the Nasdaq fell 12.08 points or 0.3 percent to 4,389.25 and the S&P 500 slipped 3.17 points or 0.2 percent to 1,933.75.