Stocks retreated on Tuesday, but a batch of large-cap shares touched new highs with the help of portfolio managers buying top performers near the end of the quarter.


With the first quarter ending on Friday, portfolio managers adjusted holdings by buying some of the best performers to dress up their portfolios. A total of 175 stocks on the New York Stock Exchange reached 52-week highs on Tuesday, including the Dow components Home Depot and I.B.M., along with high-end retailers.


“As long as the economy continues to improve, the market will continue to go up, and that’s what’s happened,” said Bryant Evans, an investment adviser and portfolio manager at Cozad Asset Management in Champaign, Ill.


The moves follow three months of big gains, putting the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index on track for its best quarter since the third quarter of 2009. It follows a similarly strong run in the fourth quarter of 2011, with gains for the last six months totaling 25 percent.


On Monday, the three major stock indexes rallied more than 1 percent after the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, signaled that supportive monetary policy would remain in place.


On Tuesday, Mr. Bernanke said in an ABC News interview, when asked about the potential for more stimulus action, that the Fed was not taking any options off the table.


The Dow Jones industrial average lost 43.90 points, or 0.33 percent, to 13,197.73, on Tuesday. The S.& P. 500-stock index fell 3.99 points, or 0.28 percent, to 1,412.52. The Nasdaq composite index was down 2.22 points, or 0.07 percent, at 3,120.35.


Apple touched another record high of $616.28 and closed with a market capitalization of $572.92 billion. The stock closed at $614.48, still up 1.2 percent for the day.


Among Dow components hitting 52-week highs, I.B.M. climbed to $208.56 and then slipped slightly to close 0.3 percent lower, at $207.18.


Walt Disney shares rose to a 52-week high of $44.50, only to slip to $44.15, off 0.5 percent. Home Depot stock reached a 52-week high at $50.34, then gave up some of that gain to end at $50.04, off 0.2 percent for the day.


Among market sectors, the S.& P. technology and financial indexes led quarterly gains, with technology up 22.1 percent and financials up 22 percent for the quarter so far.


Among top-performing stocks, Bank of America, the second-best performing S.& P. 500 stock for the quarter, is up 75 percent; Sears is No. 1, up 130 percent.


“You’ll see fund mangers continue to rotate, and the technical bias is up right now, so that bodes well for quarterly window dressing,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital in New York.


Some investors say further gains will be difficult since the rally has lasted months without a major correction.


The market’s sharp gains have followed improving economic data in the United States, as well as accommodative measures by central banks around the world.


In the latest economic report, the consumer confidence index dipped in March to 70.2, just below the median forecast, while Americans ratcheted up inflation expectations to the highest level in 10 months, according to the Conference Board, a private industry group.


Interest rates were lower. The Treasury’s benchmark 10-year note rose 18/32, to 98 11/32, and the yield fell to 2.19 percent from 2.25 percent late Monday.