Stocks finished only modestly lower after rebounding from a steep slide spurred by the mounting uncertainty over how much US companies are being hurt by the economic crisis in Asia.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones rebounded from an early afternoon deficit of nearly 130 points.

Most broad-market indicators also bounced back from their lows in the heavily traded session.

With high-season for corporate fourth-quarter figures just a week away, investors bristled at a warning by Atmel, a semiconductor company, that many of its Asian customers had been unable to secure credit to pay for shipments scheduled for December.

Meanwhile, underscoring the uncertainty over when the Asian economy might begin to stabilise, Hong Kong's main stock market index tumbled nearly 6 per cent yesterday. Notably, Japanese and South Korean stocks rose despite the latest regional rumblings.

Predictably, some of the heaviest selling in the US came in the technology and financial sectors.