YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: In contrast to the past couple of sessions, stocks managed to maintain solid gains into the close on Monday. The advance was broad based, but financials lagged from the start.

A dip by the dollar helped bring buyers into the stock market and keep the bullish trend intact. The greenback fell 0.4% against competing currencies; it was never able to muster an actual gain against the basket.

The dollar's decline proved particularly beneficial for energy stocks, which led for the entire session and settled with a 1.8% gain. Higher oil prices helped the energy space; contracts closed pit trade with crude oil priced 2.7% higher at $82.16 per barrel. Though no specific price was given, an OPEC chief stated that oil prices will not be allowed to rise too high, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Oil wasn't the only commodity to attract buyers, though. Broad-based interest for natural resources spurred the CRB Commodity Index to a 2.1% gain, which was its best single-session percentage advance in more than one month.

Strength among commodities and basic materials helped diversified metals and mining stocks spike a collective 4.7% higher. That sort of support helped the broader materials sector outperform, though it eased back a bit to finish with a 0.9% gain, which was even with what health care and industrials scored.

Though the stock market traded with relatively steady gains for most of the session, financials oscillated between positive and negative territory, lagging all the while. Still, the sector managed to finish with a 0.2% gain as it struggled to hold near the 52-week high that it set last week. Many market pundits have long pointed to the financial sector as a necessary source of support for continued gains in the broader market.

Economic data is also a key catalyst for trade, but the latest dose did little for participants. According to figures, consumption expenditures in February increased 0.3%, as expected, while core personal consumption expenditures were flat, which was not too much of a surprise since the consensus had called for a tepid 0.1% increase. Total and disposable income posted no growth in February -- a 0.1% increase had been expected.

Broad-based strength was seen in commodities this session. A weak dollar exacerbated today's move to the upside. Industrial commodities (+2.1%), energy commodities (+1.9%) and precious metals (+1.6%) led the move higher.

May copper futures closed 3.9% higher at $3.53 per pound. Declining inventory levels, in the face of strong demand, were the primary catalyst.

Silver futures also saw substantial gains. May silver trend higher throughout the session. It closed up 2.8% at $17.38 per ounce. Gains gold futures were limited, though. April gold closed 0.5% higher at $1110.30 per ounce.

Crude oil futures rallied to the $82.50 level in the morning. They traded relatively flat for the remainder of the session. The May contract closed 2.7% higher at $82.16 per barrel.

Natural gas futures were one of only two commodities in the CRB Commodity Index to trade lower this session (the other being orange juice). Despite being off nearly 40% from January highs, May natural gas closed down less than a penny at $3.92 per MMBtu.

The lack of market-moving data and the absence of any major corporate news items made for moderate participation, such that trading volume on the NYSE failed to eclipse 1 billion shares. DJ30 +45.50 NASDAQ +9.23 NQ100 +0.4% R2K +0.4% SP400 +0.8% SP500 +6.63 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1539/1.88 bln/1115 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2097/944 mln/944