Wall Street report: Friday close

MARKETS finished near the flat line as their biggest three-day rally since 1987 helped them to their best week in nearly a year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which had climbed nearly 700 points in the prior three sessions, clawed its way back from the an early 130-point drop to close higher by 33.43 points or 0.4% to 8745.45. The Nasdaq eased 10.40 points or 0.8% to 1306.12.

For the week, both the Dow and the Nasdaq posted gains of roughly 5%, their best weekly performance since late September.

The news was mixed with new accounting mis-statements totalling $3bn out of collapsed telecom Worldcom and negative news from the data storage sector balanced against a strong report on productivity from Washington. Worldcom shares, at $16 late last year, dropped nearly two cents or 13% to 10.8 cents on the news.

Data storage company Emulex tumbled $8.34 or 35% to $15.27 as it issued a profit warning in a slow time for its business. Rival Brocade shed $1.91 or 11% to $15.37.

Big techs were slightly weaker after this week's run-up. Microsoft dipped 76 cents or 1.6% to $48.15. Intel was down 50 cents or 2.7% to $17.88. Hewlett-Packard retreated 14 cents or 1% to $13.41.

Reports that investigators into the collapse of cable TV giant Adelphia had contacted Motorola and Scientific-Atlanta over the pricing of equipment sold to Adelphia held back their shares. Motorola, down at the opening, closed up 20 cents or 1.7% to $12. Scientific-Atlanta came off 32 cents or 2.4% to $13.22.

Walt Disney traded up 15 cents or 1% to $14.65 on reports that company chief Michael Eisner was on the hot seat with his board of directors over the performance of the entertainment conglomerate. The company recently blamed a slow-down at its theme parks and lower advertising at its ABC TV network for its lacklustre results.

Banks held their ground after Thursday's big gains which came on the heels of a $30bn. bail-out for Brazil. Citigroup rose 41 cents or 1.2% to $34.31. JP Morgan was flat at $26.35.