Major Averages Finish Choppy Trading Day Nearly Flat

(RTTNews) - With traders seemingly reluctant to make any significant moves, stocks turned in a lackluster performance during trading on Monday. The major averages eventually ended the session mixed, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq posting a modest gain.

Reflecting the lackluster close by the broader markets, most of the major sectors ended the session showing only modest moves.

Steel stocks saw substantial weakness, however, with the NYSE Arca Steel Index tumbling by 2.3 percent. Mechel (MTL), Ternium (TX) and A.M. Castle (CAS) turned in some of the sector's worst performances.

Considerable weakness was also visible among oil service stocks, which moved lower along with the price of crude oil. With crude for April delivery falling $1.36 to $49.45 a barrel, the Philadelphia Oil Service Index dropped by 1.5 percent.

Telecom, computer hardware, and internet stocks also moved to the downside on the day, while strength was visible among biotechnology, commercial real estate, and trucking stocks.

The Nasdaq inched up 5.00 points or 0.1 percent to a nearly fifteen-year high of 4,960.97, while the Dow dipped 23.60 points or 0.1 percent to 18,116.84 and the S&P 500 edged down 0.64 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 2,109.66.