YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Amid light trading volume the stock market ascended into the afternoon, but petered out some of its gains into the close. Still, semiconductor stocks and materials stocks were able to finish markedly higher.

Semiconductor stocks traded with sharp gains for the entire session, helping the Semiconductor Index climb 4.5%. Their upward move came after Texas Instruments (TXN 21.02, +1.25) raised its second quarter forecast. That announcement came just one week after the chief executive from Applied Materials (AMAT 11.03, +0.17) made pessimistic comments about the semiconductor industry.

The materials sector closed 2.3% higher, better than any other major sector in the S&P 500. Its advance came as commodity prices climbed amid a falling U.S. dollar, which dropped a sharp 1.4% against a basket of major foreign currencies.

The dollar's decline was particularly helpful for crude oil contracts. Oil prices advanced 2.7% to settle at a 2009 closing high of $69.92 per barrel. That helped oil equipment stocks climb 2.1% and oil drillers close 2.5% higher.

Financial stocks (+0.5%) finished in mixed fashion following the Treasury's announcement that 10 of the 19 largest U.S. banks will be allowed to repay TARP funds. BB&T Corp. (BBT 22.45, +0.52), US Bancorp (USB 18.18, -0.17), Capital One (COF 24.05, +0.61), JPMorgan Chase (JPM 35.26, -0.13), Bank of New York Mellon (BK 28.79, +0.25), American Express (AXP 26.93, +1.28), Northern Trust (NTRS 56.36, +0.98), and Goldman Sachs (GS 149.31, +0.96) are among the companies that have received permission to repay TARP funds to the Treasury. Diversified banks tacked on 0.6%, but diversified financial services companies slipped 0.2%.

A $35 billion auction of 3-year Treasury Notes with a yield of 1.96% attracted a bid-to-cover ratio of 2.8. The benchmark 10-year gyrated in the wake of the announcement, but settled a few ticks higher with a yield of 3.86%. Stocks were hit with some selling pressure following the announcement, but the downward move was lost in the stock market's intraday gyrations.

Trading volume was exceptionally light this session. Slightly more than 1 billion shares traded hands on the NYSE. On average, more than 1.5 billion shares have traded hands on the NYSE during the last 50 sessions.DJ30 -1.43 NASDAQ +17.73 NQ100 +0.9% R2K +0.6% SP400 +1.0% SP500 +3.29 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1590/2.16 bln/1052 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1812/1.06 bln/1191