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Dow ends up 82, Nasdaq off 189; bonds rise

NEW YORK: Technology stocks fell for a third day in a row on Wednesday amid profit-taking, but blue chips jumped as fund managers made adjustments in the final days of the first quarter.

Bond prices edged higher as weakness in technology stocks and lower crude oil prices slightly offset investors' worries about more interest- rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. The euro slid to record lows against the Japanese yen and the British pound and hit a one-month floor against the dollar.

Oil futures prices fell Wednesday after the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed to increase global production by 1.45 million barrels per day, beginning Saturday, April 1. Mexico, an OPEC ally, also said it would increase its oil exports as of April 1. Gold hit six-month lows in New York, hurt by the late rally in U.S. blue-chip stocks and the dollar's strength against the euro. Silver slid to 10-month lows, pressured by fund selling.

"These tech stocks have been topping for a couple of weeks now," said Paul Cox, manger of the Commerce Mid-Cap Fund at Commerce Bank in St. Louis. "They've been (involved) in the process of profit-taking and rolling over, and it's just more of the same."

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 82.61 points or 0.76 percent to 11,018.72.

The Standard & Poor's 500 stock index edged up just 0.79 of a point, or 0.05 percent, to 1,508.52.

The technology-driven Nasdaq composite index fell 189.22 points, or 3.91 percent, to 4,644.67. It was the third-largest decline in point terms on record for the Nasdaq index.

Declines led advances by about a 2-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq market while advances were in the lead over declines on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

The 30-year U.S. Treasury bond rose 1/32, or 31.25 cents on each $1,000 of face value. The yield, which moves in the opposite direction, fell to 5.97 percent from 5.98 percent at Tuesday's close.

Mark Mobius, the influential money manager for the Templeton Funds, added his voice to those who have been concerned about lofty valuations in the tech sector. Mobius said recent volatility in the sector could be the start of a sharp global selloff for the group. Mobius's remarks followed by a day a note of caution sounded by widely followed Goldman Sachs strategist Abby Joseph Cohen.

Computer networking equipment maker Cisco Systems fell 1-13/16 to 76-1/16, while Dell Computer slipped 2-1/16 to 53-13/16. On Wednesday, Cisco said it would buy SightPath Inc., a maker of software that manages and speeds delivery of Web content, for $800 million in stock.

Microsoft Corp. rose 2-7/8 to 107-3/16. Investors are focusing on efforts to settle the antitrust case against the company.

Shares of General Electric Co. rose 8-3/16 to 164-3/16, not far below a new 52-week high of 164-13/16 hit on Wednesday. The stock got a boost after Prudential raised its price target on GE to $210 from $180 and another shot in the arm from the OPEC agreement to increase global oil supplies.

In currency markets, the yen rocketed to an all-time high against the euro of 100.02 yen in early New York trading.

The euro's declines triggered heavy stop-loss selling against the dollar, and the euro tumbled to a one-month low of 94.79 cents -- less than 1 cent above last month's record low of 93.90 cents.

The euro sagged 1.6 percent to a record low of 59.57 pence against the British pound.

The euro settled at 95.14 cents, down from 96.03 cents late Tuesday. The dollar edged down to 105.69 yen from 105.79 yen.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil for May delivery fell 64 cents to settle at $26.45 a barrel. Over the past three days, the May crude contract has fallen $1.34 a barrel or 4.8 percent. In the wee hours of Wednesday, OPEC heavyweight Saudi Arabia and eight other members of the oil cartel agreed to increase oil supply by 1.45 million barrels per day. Iran was the only OPEC member to reject the deal. And Mexico, which is not an OPEC member, showed its strength as an OPEC ally by saying later on Wednesday that it would raise its oil exports by 150,000 barrels per day by April 1.

COMEX April gold ended at $275.90 a troy ounce, down $3.60 from Tuesday's close, after falling as low as $274.80. That was the lowest price since Sept. 27, when gold shot higher, rising above $300, after European central banks said they had agreed to limit sales. The catalyst for gold's price decline on Wednesday, traders and dealers said, was fear once more that central banks would unload gold reserves again. The late-afternoon

Selling by funds, including speculative ones, hurt silver on Wednesday. COMEX May silver settled at $4.98 an ounce, down 12.3 cents, the first time it's been below $5 an ounce since May 28, 1999.

Overseas, London's benchmark FTSE 100 ended down 51.3 points or 0.77 percent at 6,598.8. In Tokyo, the Nikkei average of 225 leading shares soared 332.31 points or 1.63 percent to close at 20,706.65, its highest close in 40 months, since Dec. 10, 1996. The Nikkei's jump was linked to perceptions that Japan's economy is recovering.-Reuters