New York ? Economic uncertainty continued to grip the stock market during the second quarter, leaving major benchmark indexes with small gains at best.

Even though the housing market continued to boom and the Conference Board’s consumer confidence indicator hit a three-year high, other factors continued to weigh on investor sentiment.

Oil prices continued to play a major role, with concerns that prices of $70 a barrel could appear before the end of the year. The dollar stabilized against the euro and the yen amid ongoing worries about the twin deficits budget and trade. And merger activity involving Chinese companies raised questions about that country’s economic strength.

Meanwhile, even as the Federal Reserve continued to hike interest rates, the 10-year note sunk below 4 percent near the end of the month.

By the end of the quarter, the Dow Jones industrial average was slightly in the red while the Nasdaq composite index and the Standard and Poor’s 500-index were on track to finish with incremental gains.

The best performing sectors, according to Hemscott Inc., were real estate and in a nod to the late 1990s Internet companies, helped by the burst above $300 by Internet search company Google Inc.