Blue-chip stocks rallied yesterday as bargain hunters tried to take advantage of a nearly continuous slide from the record highs set earlier this month.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 111.99 points - or 1.2 per cent - to 9,026.95, wiping out the losses of the previous two days.

The Standard and Poor's 500 rose 17.74 to 1,142.95, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 38.13 to 1,919.62.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by nearly a 2-to-1 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,916 up, 1,024 down and 570 unchanged.

NYSE volume totalled 681.11 million shares as of 4 p.m., vs 634.71 million in the previous session.

The NYSE composite index rose 7.84 to 575.26, and the American Stock Exchange composite index rose 5.61 to 713.47.

The Russell 2000 of smaller companies rose 3.31 to 429.50.