Stocks make another late-day advance

US investors, attracted to Wall Street by cheaper prices, set aside nagging pessimism about the economy and indulged in late-session buying.

The market retraced its moderate losses and turned positive by late afternoon yesterday , a move that analysts said was encouraging, especially after a Friday when investors often sell to reduce risk going into the weekend.

"The fact is that (being) down in the morning and up in the afternoon tends to be a bullish indicator," said Scott Bleier, chief investment strategist at Prime Charter Ltd.

The Dow Jones industrial average finished up 44.70, or 0.5%, at 9,811.15 after falling as much as 29 earlier. The Dow's performance mirrored that of Wednesday, when the blue chip index turned positive in the last 30 minutes of trading to eke out a 6-point gain.

The broader market followed the same path as the Dow, another repeat of Wednesday's trading. The Nasdaq composite index rose 6.67, or 0.3%, to 1,953.18, and the Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced 3.69, or 0.3%, to 1,123.07.

The Nasdaq had a weekly loss of 3.4% and the S&P 500 lost 3.0%.

Among the stocks investors sold were companies that posted disappointing earnings or indicated that business remains difficult.

Oracle slipped 10 cents to $14.57 on news that sales of new software licenses plunged 27 percent during the quarter ending November 30, and that profits slid 12% as sales of its business software contracted.

Gannett fell 75 cents to $65.20 after the country's largest newspaper publisher said it was cancelling next year's pay rises for about 80 of its top executives, following the lead of other major publishers struggling with a difficult business climate for newspapers.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners slightly more than 8 to 7 on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was heavy, but down slightly from recent levels.