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NEW YORK (Reuters) - The stock market slowly returned to life on Wednesday after two days in the dark, in the wake of the massive storm Sandy that caused the market's first weather-related two-day closure since the late 19th century. The Dow and the S&P 500 closed little changed while the Nasdaq Composite edged lower in a session with slightly less than average volume.

The two-day weather-related break was the stock market's first multi-day closure for weather since 1888. Trading volume was average, with about 6.3 billion shares exchanging hands on the NYSE, Nasdaq and NYSE MKT. Daily average for 2012 through last Friday was 6.51 billion shares.

Unsurprisingly, investors made a knee-jerk move to buy companies that stand to benefit from home repairs. Dow component Home Depot climbed 2.2 percent to $61.38 while rival Lowe's rose 3.3 percent to $32.38. Generator manufacturer Generac Holdings shares surged 20 percent to $34, building on a rally that started before the storm hit. The company reported earnings Tuesday evening and said the rest of the year would be better than expected because of increased demand for home generators. "We're seeing reactions from Home Depot and the insurers. But I think these will be relatively short-lived," Weisberg said.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 10.75 points, or 0.08 percent, to 13,096.46 at the close. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained just 0.22 of a point, or 0.02 percent, to finish at 1,412.16. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 10.72 points, or 0.36 percent, to end at 2,977.23. For the month of October, the Dow fell 2.5 percent, the S&P 500 lost 2 percent and the Nasdaq dropped 4.5 percent.

Shares of Netflix Inc rose as much as 22 percent before closing up 13.9 percent at $79.24 after activist investor Carl Icahn reported a stake of nearly 10 percent in the company, which offers subscriptions to watch movies and TV shows over the Internet and on DVDs. Ford Motor Co rallied 8.2 percent to $11.16 and was the NYSE's most-active stock after the automaker reported strong results while the market was closed. General Motors reported earnings that beat expectations, driving its shares up 9.5 percent to $25.50.

Weakness in Apple Inc, which announced management changes earlier in the week, weighed on the Nasdaq. The stock fell 1.4 percent to $595.32. Facebook shares slid 3.8 percent to $21.11 after the expiration of a lockup period that had prevented some employees from selling stock. Walt Disney Co agreed to buy filmmaker George Lucas's Lucas film Ltd and its "Star Wars" franchise for $4.05 billion in cash and stock, a blockbuster deal that includes the surprising promise of a new film in the series in 2015. Disney, a Dow component, fell 2 percent to $49.07.

Malaysia's index futures spot month contract opened slightly lower this morning  at 1672 as investors lock in profits after recent gains but could resume its upward trend amid supportive technical in the near term. Today’s Support and Resistance for November contract is located around 1,670 and 1,680  respectively.