Major Averages Close Sharply Higher Following Recent Weakness

(RTTNews) - After ending the previous session roughly flat, stocks moved sharply higher over the course of the trading day on Wednesday. The gains on the day partly offset the pullback seen over the past several sessions.

Most of the major sectors moved notably higher on the day, reflecting broad based buying interest on Wall Street.

Tobacco stocks posted some particularly strong gains, driving the NYSE Arca Tobacco Index up by 3.5 percent. With the gain, the index reached a new record closing high.

Alliance One (AOI) helped to lead the tobacco sector higher, jumping 14 percent to its best closing level in ten months.

Considerable strength was also visible among oil service stocks, as reflected by the 2.4 percent gain posted by the Philadelphia Oil Service Index. The strength in the sector came as crude oil for July delivery jumped $1.29 to $61.43 a barrel.

Software stocks also saw significant strength on the day, driving the Dow Jones Software Index up by 2 percent. The gain by the index came after it ended the previous session at its worst closing level in well over a month.

Steel, housing, networking and banking stocks also moved notably higher over the course of the trading session.

The major averages moved roughly sideways throughout much of the afternoon, holding on to strong gains. The Dow skyrocketed 236.36 points or 1.3 percent to 18,000.40, the Nasdaq jumped 62.82 points or 13 percent to 5,076.69 and the S&P 500 surged up 25.05 points or 1.2 percent to 2,105.20.