Stocks stage late recovery

Lured once more by lower prices, buyers returned to Wall Street late today.

Rising blue chips lifted the Dow Jones industrials more than 130 points and tech stocks managed a modest advance.

Still, analysts do not expect the gains to hold, given investors’ worries about corporate earnings and bookkeeping.

The Dow Jones industrial average finished up 133.47, or 1.4%, at 9,968.15, having fallen 106.49 on Thursday. The Dow has had big swings all week, reversing a triple-digit gain on Tuesday with a triple-digit loss on Wednesday.

The broader market also closed higher. The Nasdaq composite index rose 8.30, or 0.5%, to 1,724.54, after falling 59.33 on Thursday to its lowest close since October 31. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index advanced 8.89, or 0.8%, to 1,089.84.

Upbeat earnings forecasts or analyst ratings helped lift some stocks.

General Motors rose dlrs 1.38 to dlrs 53.11 after Banc of America Securities upgraded its shares to ‘‘buy’’ from ‘‘market perform’’.

Payless ShoeSource climbed dlrs 1.74 to dlrs 58.62 after beating fourth-quarter earnings expectations by 5 cents a share. And chipmaker Xilinx advanced 92 cents to dlrs 34.93, after raising its fourth-quarter revenue estimate late on Thursday.

But investors have been mostly selling stocks for the past six weeks, worried that the economic recovery will be further delayed. They have also become suspicious that companies are not accurately reporting their earnings, in the wake of Enron’s collapse.

Technology has endured the strongest selling so far this year, which analysts attribute to the sector’s relatively high prices. While the Dow is down about 0.5% this year, the tech-focused Nasdaq has dropped nearly 12%.

Analysts also said investors were worried about the accounting at tech firms, which often is more complicated than that of more basic blue-chip industries.

Computer Associates fell dlrs 2.91, or 15.4% to dlrs 15.99 after the software maker confirmed it was being examined by federal investigators. The investigation reportedly focuses on whether the firm deliberately overstated earnings.

Accounting worries drove JP Morgan Chase down 95 cents to dlrs 28.19 after The Wall Street Journal reported today that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York was looking into the bank’s books for commodity-related trades with Enron.

‘‘If there is any hint of impropriety, investors are pulling the trigger, and asking questions later,’’ said Thomas Lydon, president of Global Trends Investments in Newport Beach, California.

Retailers lost ground today, falling on Circuit City’s profit warning for its fourth quarter and and fiscal 2003. Circuit City plunged nearly 30%, down dlrs 7.04 at dlrs 16.55, and competitor Best Buy fell dlrs 3.04 to dlrs 67.61.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners 3 to 2 on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was moderate.

The Russell 2000 index, which measures the performance of smaller company stocks, rose 6.63, or 1.4%, to 465.07.