YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: A strong advance by the financial sector and a weaker U.S. dollar helped give the stock market its first gain in five sessions.

The major indices started the session with modest gains, but shares of diversified banks wasted little time putting together their best percentage gain in two months. The group was helped along by news that analysts at Goldman Sachs raised their rating on the U.S. large-cap bank sector. Diversified banks finished the session 5.6% higher, which lifted the broader financial sector to a 3.3% gain and helped it outperform every other major sector.

The U.S. dollar declined 0.5% against a basket of major foreign currencies despite concerns that its weakness could disrupt the global economy. However, the weaker dollar proved beneficial to both stocks and commodities once again.

Amid the dollar's drop the CRB Commodity Index gained 1.3%. The advance reflected a sharp a sharp 1.3% gain in gold prices, which settled at $1017.80 per ounce. A rebound in oil prices also helped. Crude futures had been as low as $68.05 per barrel, but rallied to finish with a 0.7% gain at $70.41 per barrel.

Oil's rebound helped the energy sector climb to a 2.2% gain. The materials sector finished 2.0% higher.

Though broad-based buying helped all 10 major sectors finish in higher ground, stocks did have to overcome a fit of midmorning selling pressure. Sellers had stepped in just minutes after the September ISM Services Index showed a better-than-expected reading of 50.9, but stocks rebounded when the Dow and Nasdaq Composite came in contact with the neutral line. Stocks spent the rest of the session working higher and closed a few points off of session highs.

Advancing Sectors: Financials (+3.3%), Energy (+2.2%), Materials (+2.0%), Industrials (+1.9%), Consumer Discretionary (+1.8%), Utilities (+1.2%), Telecom (+0.8%), Tech (+0.8%), Health Care (+0.5%), Consumer Staples (+0.2%)
Declining Sectors: (None)DJ30 +112.08 NASDAQ +20.04 NQ100 +0.8% R2K +1.9% SP400 +2.1% SP500 +15.25 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1964/2.17 bln/730 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2539/1.11 bln/521