YAHOO[BRIEFING.COM]: A rebound in financial stocks provided leadership to the broader market, helping stocks climb steadily and close at session highs.

Stocks began the session in mixed fashion. Trading was choppy in the absence of a clear leader. Given the weak close to the prior session, it appeared stocks would extend their losses as financials fell to a 2.5% loss in the first few minutes of trading.

The downturn was short-lived, though, as financials rebounded to spend the rest of the session staging an advance. As has been the case in recent weeks, financials have been a key determinant in the direction of the broader market. Financials closed with a 6.6% gain at session this. All three major indices also closed at session highs.

The Nasdaq logged the best performance of the headline indices. Its gain was underpinned by strength in large-cap tech shares. However, the strength in large cap tech didn't preclude small-cap stocks from putting together a solid advance; the Russell 2000 Small-Cap Index outperformed all the broader indices with an 4.5% advance.

Nonetheless, gains were widespread. Every major sector in the S&P 500 closed the session higher. Even materials stocks (+0.4%) logged a gain after spending all but the last 10 minutes of the session in the red. Materials had been down more than 2% at their session low.

The sector's relative weakness followed news Nucor (NUE 33.55, -3.40) and Dow component Alcoa (AA 5.59, -0.53) expect to post losses for the first quarter. Alcoa also stated it will slash its quarterly dividend to $0.03 per share from $0.17 per share. Diversified metals company Rio Tinto (RTP 112.58, -3.82) issued pessimistic comments of its own, citing continued weakness in commodities.

Despite the pickup in the materials sector, steel stocks still closed with a 7.4% loss.

Economic data had little impact on trading. The Producer Price Index (PPI) for February increased 0.1% after a 0.8% increase the month before. The PPI was expected to increase 0.4% in February. Core PPI increased 0.2% after a 0.4% increase in the prior reading. The consensus called for a 0.1% increase in February.

February housing starts hit an annualized rate of 583,000, up from record lows and above the rate of 450,000 starts that was expected. Meanwhile, February building permits hit an annualized rate of 547,000, which is above the 500,000 that was expected. The prior reading showed 531,000 permits. Given the glut of unsold homes on the market, there is concern an increase in starts and permits could retard inventory reduction, which would prolong a recovery in the housing market.DJ30 +178.73 NASDAQ +58.09 NQ100 +4.1% R2K +4.5% SP400 +3.7% SP500 +24.23 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 2069/2.10 bln/598 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2415/1.49 bln/643