YAHOO[BRIEFING.COM]: The stock market traded with broad-based weakness for virtually the entire session, but was able to pare its losses to close well off its session low in another round of light trading volume.   

Particular weakness surrounded Rohm and Haas (ROH 53.34, -10.22) and Dow Chemical (DOW 15.33, -3.59).  They were among the session’s biggest decliners by price, and were also among the most active stocks by trading volume.  The action came after a Kuwaiti petrochemical outfit indicated it would not partner itself with Dow in a business deal valued at around $17 billion.  That increased concern that Dow may be unable to honor the terms of its agreement to acquire Rohm and Haas for $78 per share.  Rohm and Haas indicated that success of Dow’s Kuwaiti partnership is not a closing condition of the merger. 

The weakness surrounding DOW and ROH undermined the materials sector.  Materials finished the session 2.1% lower after trading as a laggard, unable to benefit from strength in commodities. 

The CRB Commodity Index advanced more than 1%, thanks largely to strong gains in natural gas and crude oil futures. 

Natural gas prices advanced more than 12% to $6.08 per contract, which was a bit shy of its session high.  Crude futures were actually up nearly 12% in overnight electronic trading, but closed the session roughly 6% higher, settling a bit below $40 per barrel.  Crude prices momentarily dipped into negative territory.  The volatility came amid heightened geopolitical conflict in the Middle East.

Rising energy prices bolstered the energy sector, helping it outperform the broader market for the entire session.  Leadership from large-cap integrated oil and gas players (+1.6%) helped the energy sector finish the session 1.9% higher, and provided a bit of leadership to the Dow.

The Nasdaq traded with little leadership.  Instead, it lagged the other headline indices due to weakness in large-cap tech holdings.

The broader market saw its only gains come in the first few minutes of trading, when it inched just 0.1% higher.  Selling pressure quickly took a hold of stocks, keeping them in the red for the rest of the session.  At its session low, the stock market traded with a 1.8% loss.   However, it finished just 0.4% lower. 

Trading volume on the NYSE failed to break 900 million shares, which is well below the 50-day moving average of nearly 1.5 billion shares.DJ30 -31.62 NASDAQ -19.92 SP500 -3.38 NASDAQ Dec/Adv/Vol 2045/791/1.18 bln NYSE Dec/Adv/Vol 1950/1162/877 mln