YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Early support sent the stock market to a fractionally improved 52-week high, but as buyers backed away and sellers squared their positions ahead of tomorrow's official jobs report stocks succumbed to pressure. Stocks bounced in the final hour to close the session on a strong note, though.

News of a pleasing eurozone PMI and a restated commitment by China to loose monetary policy was cited as a reason for the positive mood among market participants in the early going. A less obvious cause for the early gains is that fund money was put to work with the start of the second quarter.

The best ISM Manufacturing Index reading in five years gave reason to push stocks even higher. At 59.6, the index also exceeded expectations of many economists.

Other economic data had less of an affect on the morning mood. News that construction spending for February a sharper-than-expected 1.3% received little mention, while an initial jobless claims count of 439,000 for the week ended Mar. 27 was shrugged off since it was in-line with the consensus forecast.

The weekly jobless claims count precedes the government's official payrolls report, which is due tomorrow morning. The report's release always makes for a widely-watched event, but the stock market will be closed in observance of Good Friday.

Given that the stock market will be closed tomorrow and the jobs report possesses a degree of uncertainty, many market participants were compelled to square their bets. That gave way to some selling and, in turn, an afternoon slide, which was likely exacerbated by the light trading volume ahead of the holiday weekend.

Of the major indices, the Nasdaq made the sharpest slide as it fell from a 1% gain all the way into negative territory. Research In Motion (RIMM 68.52, -5.45) was a primary source of weakness after disappointment over its earnings led to a downgrade by analysts at Goldman Sachs.

A late flurry of buying helped stocks rebound into the close. Though the stock market was unable to return to the fractionally improved 52-week highs that it set in the early going, it still finished the week on a strong note with broad-based gains.

As such, all 10 major sectors finished in positive ground. Materials gained the most made as they ascended 1.8%. Support for the sector was helped by a 0.5% loss in the Dollar Index.

The dollar's decline also lifted commodity prices, which hiked the CRB Commodity Index to a 1.1% gain. Natural gas was the biggest gainer among commodities; contract prices had been down roughly 1% in the morning, but news of a smaller-than-expected inventory build sent prices up 5.7% to $4.09 per MMBtu.

Commodities rallied this session as the dollar index extended yesterday's losses amid strength in overseas markets.

The energy complex netted the most impressive gains, rising 2.5%.

Natural gas led this move to the upside closing up 5.7% to $4.09 per MMBtu. It surged higher following a smaller-than-expected inventory build this morning.

Crude oil broke to 17 month highs this session. The May contract closed at $84.82 per barrel, up 1.3% after hitting a session high at $85.22 per barrel.

Precious metals also saw a marked gain. They rose 1.5% this session. June gold futures rose 1.2% to $1126.50 per ounce. May silver rose 2.1% to $17.89 per ounce.

Advancing Sectors: Materials (+1.8%), Energy (+1.6%), Utilities (+1.3%), Telecom (+1.0%), Financials (+0.9%), Consumer Discretionary (+0.7%), Industrials (+0.6%), Health Care (+0.6%), Consumer Staples (+0.5%), Tech (+0.1%)
Declining Sectors: (None) DJ30 +70.44 NASDAQ +4.62 NQ100 +0.1% R2K +0.8% SP400 +0.9% SP500 +8.67 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1512/2.28 bln/1146 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2270/914 mln/769