Dow Jones Industrial Average Surges 488.95 Points

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, July 25, 2002

Dow Jones Industrial Average Surges 488.95 Points

The US top shares index, the Dow Jones, has surged by nearly 500 points or 6.5% - its biggest one day gain in almost 15 years. The strong rise of US share prices dragged European indexes higher at the end of their trading day, and sparked renewed hopes of a market recovery.

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US stocks soar, give markets hope

Wall Street stocks rallied strongly Wednesday, with the Dow and Standard & Poor's indexesnet surpassed 8,000 and 800 marks respectively.

This upsurge came amid investors' bargain-hunting activity triggered by an easing of concerns about J.P. Morgan Chase's connections with Enron, the arrest of top Adelphia executives, 3M's upbeat quarterly results, and Merck's huge buyback program.

The Dow Jones industrial average rocketed 488.95 points, or 6.35 percent, to 8,191.29, its second-biggest one-day point gain ever, after falling 82.24 points on Tuesday to its lowest level since October 1, 1998.

Broader stock indicators were sharply up. The technology heavy Nasdaq composite index surged 61.18 points, or 4.98 percent, at 1,290.23 after hitting its lowest close since April 28, 1997, on Tuesday. The Standard & Poor's 500 index leapt 45.73 points, or 5.73 percent, to 843.43 after tumbling Tuesday below 800 mark for the first time since April 1997.

The market rebounded after declining in early trading when investors made short-covering buying, as J.P. Morgan Chase defended itself against charges by Senate investigators that the company helped Enron manipulate its financial statement, and Adelphia Communications' top executives were arrested for allegedly looting the cable TV company.

Meanwhile, diversified manufacturer 3M announced a higher second-quarter profits which beat analysts' expectations, and drugmaker Merck said that its board of directors has approved a 10-billion-dollar buyback program.

Among the blue chips, J.P. Morgan Chase surged 3.22 dollars, or16 percent, to 23.30 dollars, Citigroup soared 2.59 dollars, or 10percent, to 29.59 dollars, 3M jumped 7.96 dollars, or 7 percent, to 119.72 dollars, and Merck rose 3.55 dollars, or 9 percent, to 42.60 dollars.

In the technology sector, Microsoft gained 3.22 dollars to 46.23 dollars, Intel advanced 89 cents to 18.70 dollars, Cisco Systems added 59 cents to 13.09 dollars, Oracle increased 60 centsto 9.40 dollars, and Dell Computer grew 1.50 dollars to 24.24 dollars.

The NYSE index closed up 22.87 points at 453.15, the American Stock Exchange index rose 19.07 points to 790.94, and the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies gained 14.57 points to 378.56.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 3-to-2 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 2,006 up, 1,345 down and 119 unchanged.

NYSE trading volume increased to 2.77 billion shares from 2.44 billion in the previous session.

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