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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Bargain Hunting Fuels Dow’s Rise

Associated Press

Stocks staged a partial comeback Tuesday as Wall Street faced another unsettled day for technology issues.

The Dow Jones industrial average improved in late trading to wind up with a gain of 14.44 points to 4,608.44.

But losers held an edge over gainers of about 6 to 5 on the Big Board, where volume expanded to 311.29 million shares as of 4 p.m. from 267.87 million Monday.

Investors again sold technology stocks to collect profits amassed during a runup earlier this year in prices of semiconductor, software and related computer shares.

The selling subsided slightly during the session while investors sifted through the sector for attractive buys. Companies judged to have promising profit potential rebounded.

Opinions among veteran market watchers vary about the implications of the cloud that lately has lurked over the technology group.

Eugene Peroni, technical analyst at Janney Montgomery Scott in Philadelphia, said the sector’s leadership is being tested but it should remain intact.

Some of the stocks that moved substantially or traded heavily Tuesday:

NYSE

Micron Technology, up 1/4 to 71-1/8.

Selected technology stocks recovered after a broad sell-off. Among other active NYSE issues that managed to recoup losses, International Business Machines rose 3/4 to 102-3/8, Motorola rose 2 to 72-7/8 and Texas Instruments rose 1-1/8 to 72.

Chemical Banking, down 3/4 to 59-3/8. Chase Manhattan, down 5/8 to 59.

Shares of the two banks remained active and retreated slightly after jumping Monday on news that the companies will merge in a $10 billion stock deal. Other banks also were active as investor interest in the sector was stoked by the Chase-Chemical news. Mellon Bank rose 1-5/8 to 45-1/4 and PNC Bank rose 1/4 to 26-1/4.

NASDAQ < Microsoft, down 1-13/16 to 91-7/8.

Stock of the software leader staged a partial recovery after getting weighed down by concerns that sales of the highly touted Windows 95 operating system will ease after an initial burst.

AMEX

Epitope, down 3/8 to 14-3/8 in heavy American volume of more than 200,000 shares

Stock of the maker of diagnostic test kits and therapeutic drugs has been in the spotlight since reports circulated that the company’s test for the HIV virus isn’t selling as well as expected.