Major Averages Finish Choppy Session On Opposite Sides Of Unchanged Line

(RTTNews) - Following the substantial rally seen to close out the previous week, stocks showed a lack of direction throughout the trading session on Monday. The major averages bounced back and forth across the unchanged line before ending the day mixed.

Despite the relatively lackluster performance turned in by the broader markets, natural gas stocks saw substantial weakness. The NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index tumbled by 3.6 percent to its lowest closing level in almost a month.

The weakness in the natural gas sector came as the price of natural gas for November delivery plunged $0.224 or nearly 10 percent to $2.06 per million BTUs.

Gold stocks also came under pressure even though the price of the precious metal ended the day higher. Reflecting the weakness in the sector, the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index plummeted by 3.8 percent.

Considerable weakness was also visible among electronic storage stocks, resulting in a 2.8 percent drop by the NYSE Arca Disk Drive Index. NetApp (NTAP) and Seagate Technology (STX) posted steep losses.

Oil service, steel, and semiconductor also saw significant weakness on the day, while software and biotechnology stocks moved to the upside.

While the tech-heavy Nasdaq crept up 2.84 points or 0.1 percent to a new two-month closing high of 5,034.70, the Dow edged down 23.65 points or 0.1 percent to 17,623.05 and the S&P 500 slipped 3.97 points or 0.2 percent to 2,071.18.