Major Averages Close In Positive Territory But Well Off Best Levels

(RTTNews) - Stocks managed to end Tuesday's trading mostly higher but were well off their best levels of the day. Lingering concerns about the situation in Syria and the outlook for the Federal Reserve's stimulus program limited the upside for the markets.

While many of the major sectors ended the day well off their best levels of the day, significant strength remained visible among steel stocks. The NYSE Arca Steel Index surged up by 2.3 percent after ending the previous session at its worst closing level in almost a month.

The strength among steel stocks reflected optimism about the outlook for steel demand on the heels of upbeat global manufacturing data.

Networking stocks also held on to strong gains, with the NYSE Arca Networking Index rising by 2.1 percent. Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) and Infinera (INFN) turned in two of the sector's best performances.

Considerable strength also emerged among biotechnology stocks, as reflected by the 2.1 percent gain posted by the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index. Regeneron (REGN) and Biogen Idec (BIIB) posted notable gains.

Airline, computer hardware, and health insurance stocks also turned in strong performances, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

Meanwhile, utilities stocks came under pressure over the course of the session, dragging the Dow Jones Utilities Average down by 1 percent.

The major averages all ended the day in positive territory, partly offsetting the losses posted last week. The Dow edged up 23.65 points or 0.2 percent to 14,833.96, the Nasdaq climbed 22.74 points or 0.6 percent to 3,612.61 and the S&P 500 rose 6.80 points or 0.4 percent to 1,639.77.