YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Leadership from the tech sector helped stocks trim steep losses that stemmed from a stronger dollar.

The stock market gapped down in the early going to trade with a loss of more than 1% as the Dollar Index climbed to a near 1% gain amid a sharp decline in the euro, which was weakened by a weaker-than-expected fourth quarter eurozone GDP reading. Meanwhile, pledged support for Greece from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Central Bank failed to support the euro.

Early market participants also had to digest news that China's central bank will hike reserve requirements at banks in order to curtail lending. That announcement comes as a stark reminder that China has switched from efforts to stimulate growth to a mindset of growth management, which has underpinned concerns for the pace of a global economic recovery.

Such macro concerns coupled with a stronger dollar caused participants to look past a stronger-than-expected 0.5% increase in January's advance retail sales figures. Sales less autos increased 0.6%, which was also stronger than expected.

A lower-than-expected preliminary University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey reading of 73.7 for February and a surprise 0.2% decrease in December business inventories were met with little reaction.

Despite the dour disposition of participants in the early going, stocks were able to trim their losses as the dollar surrendered some of its gains. It finished the session with a 0.4% gain against competing currencies.

Though the greenback's pullback helped materials stocks reverse a near 2% loss in the early going to close with a fractional loss for the session, large-cap tech was the real leader in the stock market's afternoon move. Tech helped the Nasdaq finish the session with a gain, but the broader market was unable to overcome resistance at the neutral line.

Despite its inability to break into positive ground, the S&P 500 was still able to settle the week with a 0.9% gain. That marks its first weekly advance in five weeks.

Trading volume was strong this session as the number of shares exchanged on the NYSE exceeded recent averages. The spike in participation comes ahead of a three-day weekend for the markets, which will be closed Monday in observance of Presidents Day. DJ30 -45.05 NASDAQ +6.12 SP500 -2.96 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1556/2.23 bln/1051 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1609/1.43 bln/1387

3:35 pm : The dollar index hit a session high early in the morning as the euro sold off following a disappointing Q4 eurozone GDP figure. Even as the dollar index pared its gains in the morning, its strength continued to hamper commodity prices this session.

As a result, precious metals attempted to pare losses throughout the session. Both gold and silver futures established an upward pattern for the session, but still closed lower. April gold hit a session low at $1078.10 per ounce before closing down 0.5% at $1088.80 per ounce. March silver hit a session low at $15.21 per ounce before closing down 1.0% at $15.43 per ounce.

Due to inclement weather earlier this week, the DOE reported both crude oil and natural gas weekly inventories this morning. A greater-than-expected draw in natural gas inventories resulted in higher natural gas prices for the session. The March contract bounced off the $5.35 level following the bullish data and closed 1.5% higher at $5.47 per MMBtu. Natural gas was the only energy commodity to end higher this session as bearish crude oil inventory data kept a lid on the rest of the commodity space. Crude oil prices were already substantially lower going into the data, however. The March contract closed 1.6% lower at $74.04 per barrel after moving higher off of the $73.00 per barrel level soon after the bearish data was released. DJ30 -90.47 NASDAQ -2.02 SP500 -7.36 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1221/1.74 bln/1368 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1159/772 mln/1785