Major Averages Close Sharply Higher On Broad Based Rally

(RTTNews) - Stocks moved sharply higher over the course of the trading day on Friday, partly offsetting the steep losses posted over the past few sessions. The markets benefited from bargain hunting as well as easing concerns about the situation in Ukraine.

Continuing to recover from a recent sell-off, utilities stocks moved sharply higher over the course of the trading session. The Dow Jones Utilities Average surged up by 2.2 percent, climbing further off Wednesday's four-month closing low.

Williams (WMB) and Dominion Resources (D) turned in two of the utilities sector's best performances, jumping by 3.5 percent and 3.2 percent, respectively.

Natural gas stocks also showed a substantial move to the upside on the day, driving the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index up by 2.2 percent. The strength in the sector came as natural gas for September delivery climbed $0.086 or 2.2 percent to $3.962 per million BTUs.

Significant strength was also visible among housing stocks, as reflected by the 1.8 percent gain posted by the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index. With the gain, the index climbed further off the seven-month closing low that it set last week.

Defense, retail, oil, and airline stocks also saw considerable strength, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

The major averages ended the day firmly in positive territory, just off their highs for the session. The Dow jumped 185.66 points or 1.1 percent to 16,553.93, the Nasdaq advanced 35.93 points or 0.8 percent to 4,370.90 and the S&P 500 surged up 22.02 points or 1.2 percent to 1,931.59.

With the strong gains on the day, the major averages all moved to the upside for the week. The S&P 500 edged up by 0.3 percent, while the Dow and the Nasdaq both rose by 0.4 percent.