Dow And Nasdaq Close Slightly Higher, S&P 500 Nearly Flat

(RTTNews) - After moving to the upside in morning trading on Wednesday, stocks gave back some ground in the afternoon but managed to close slightly higher. The choppy trading extended the lackluster performance seen in the previous session.

Many of the major sectors ended the day showing only modest moves, although housing stocks saw considerable strength on the heels of upbeat new home sales data. The Philadelphia Housing Sector Index surged up 2.2 percent to a six-year closing high.

Retail stocks also turned in a strong performance, resulting in a 1.2 percent gain by the Dow Jones Retail Index. With the gain, the index ended the session at its best closing level in over a month.

Meanwhile, natural gas stocks saw significant weakness, resulting in a 1.9 percent drop by the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index. Chesapeake Energy (CHK) helped lead the sector lower after reporting weaker than expected fourth quarter earnings.

Gold stocks also came under pressure on the day, moving lower along with the price of the previous metal. With gold for April delivery sliding $14.70 to $1,328 an ounce, the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index fell by 1.5 percent.

The major averages ended the day in positive territory but well off their highs for the session. The Dow edged up 18.75 points or 0.1 percent to 16,198.41, the Nasdaq ticked up 4.48 points or 0.1 percent to 4,292.06 and the S&P 500 inched up 0.04 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 1,845.16.