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Blue chips post double-digit

losses for second day

NEW YORK: Blue-chip stocks closed with double-digit losses for the second day in a row on Thursday, driven lower by a jump in long term bond interest rates.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended 27.83 points lower at 4,643.66, for a two-day drop of 49.66 points. The blue-chip index shed 21.83 points on Wednesday, when bond interest rates also rose.

In the broader market, declining issues led advances 1,173 to 969 on moderate volume of 306 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange.

The yield on the benchmark 30-year Treasury bond rose to 6.95 percent from 6.92 percent on Wednesday. It was at 6.89 percent on Tuesday.

Bond yields have been rising since the Treasury launched its record $42.5 billion refunding, which began on Tuesday and ended on Thursday.

Analysts said stocks also were hurt by weakness in the technology sector.

The Nasdaq Composite index, heavily weighted with technology stocks, lost 4.49 points to 1,000.61.

Intel Corp. shed 1-7/8 to 64-1/4 and Microsoft Corp. lost 2-3/8 to 94-1/8. Among the blue-chip high tech shares, International Business Machines Corp. was off 3/4 to 109.

Initial public offerings were in the spotlight for the second day after the dazzling performance Wednesday by Netscape Communications Corp.

Among the newcomers, Oakley Inc., a maker of sunglasses, jumped 4-1/8 to 27-1/8 and topped the NYSE's actives list. Ucar International, a graphite and carbon electrodes manufacturer, rose 3-1/8 to 26-7/8.

But the two IPOs performance paled in comparison to Wednesday's debut by Netscape, which jumped to 58-1/4 from an offering price of 28. The stock shed 6-7/8 to 51-3/8 on Thursday.

Douglas Cliggott, senior investment strategist at Merrill Lynch, said a stronger dollar also weighed on the stocks of multinational companies whose earnings benefited from a weak currency earlier this year.

"A lot of big consumer stocks like food, drugs and beverages had a significant share of revenues in earnings growth from currency translation," he said.

The dollar climbed to 1.4185 German marks in late New York trading from 1.4062 late Wednesday. During the session it touched 1.4245 German marks, the highest level in two months. The dollar also rose to 92.62 Japanese yen from 91.70 Tuesday.

Philip Morris was unchanged at 73-5/8. U.S. regulators announced proposals for limiting tobacco sales to teenagers, including measures to ban cigarette vending machines and limit children's exposure to advertising of such products.

Weakness in the stock of Dow Jones index component International Paper Corp. pressured the blue-chip market. Traders said the stock fell 2-3/8 to 82-3/8 after bearish comments on paper and steel shares by stock guru Elaine Garzarelli.

Emphesys Financial Group jumped 8-7/8 to 36-1/4 on news that it was being acquired by Humana Inc. for $37.50 a share, or $650 million. Humana rose 1/4 to 18-1/2.

The Standard & Poor's composite index of 500 stocks fell 2.26 to 557.45. The American Stock Exchange index rose 0.27 to 523.99.

The NYSE Composite index of all listed common stocks fell 0.81 to 299.25. The average share was down 10 cents.

The Wilshire Associates Equity Index - the market value of NYSE, American and Nasdaq issues - was 5,527.83, down 15.617 or 0.28 percent.-Reuter