YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Stocks spent most of the session confined to a narrow trading range in negative territory, but managed to move higher heading into the final leg of trading. Pronounced, late-session moves have been the norm this week, but this one was a bit sloppy as stocks had to fight to hold the advance.

Trading volume was exceptionally light this session, suggesting a lack of conviction in the market's moves and, certainly, a lack of participation. Only around 860 million shares traded hands on the NYSE. That's nearly half the level typically seen in the last 50 sessions.

The latest round of range bound trading came largely as a result of a lack of leadership. Materials stocks (-1.3%), which have provided leadership in recent weeks, were knocked lower as commodities came under pressure amid a rally in the U.S. dollar.

With the Dollar Index advancing 0.9%, the CRB Commodity Index fell 1.5%. Gold prices dropped 2.2% to finish at $940.50 per ounce. Crude oil futures pulled back from 2009 highs to finish 0.8% lower at $72.05 per barrel. News from Reuters that OPEC believes that worst appears to be over for the oil market didn't seem to provide much support.

The downturn in oil prices helped send energy stocks to a 1.0% loss. Oil and gas equipment stocks (-2.5%) and drillers (-2.0%) were among the weakest plays in the sector.

Semiconductor stocks also fell under pressure this session, sending the Semiconductor Index to a 1.8% loss. The downturn came in the face of a less severe-than-expected quarterly loss and in-line revenue outlook from National Semiconductor (NSM 13.59, -0.88). Weakness among semiconductors dragged the tech sector to a 0.2% loss and weighed on the Nasdaq Composite, causing it to underperform the other headline indices.

The upward push into the close helped drive gains in the rest of the market, though. Financial stocks (+0.7%), which were instrumental in the stock market's move from its March lows, had a choppy session before spiking into the close and finishing at session highs. Diversified financial services companies (+2.6%) and diversified banks (+1.6%) underpinned the late advance. Many of them are expected to start repaying government bailout funds next week, according to reports.

Investment services firm BlackRock (BLK 176.56, -6.04) trailed after updating its outlook to reflect its agreement to pay $13.5 billion for the global investors business from Barclays (BCS 19.27, -0.63).

Treasuries found continued support, even as The Wall Street Journal reported that the Fed is unlikely to significantly boost purchases of Treasuries. However, supportive comments from a Japanese official likely provided an underlying bid. In turn, the 10-year Note advanced 18 ticks, which has pushed its yield down to 3.78% after being near 4.0% just a couple of days ago.DJ30 +28.34 NASDAQ -3.57 NQ100 -0.5% R2K +0.1% SP400 -0.3% SP500 +1.32 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1236/2.05 bln/1442 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1369/857 mln/1623