Stocks Advance on Bargain Hunting

Friday, December 22nd 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

NEW YORK (AP) â€” A late round of holiday buying sent stocks higher Friday as bargain-hunting investors looked to capitalize on the massive selloffs earlier this week. Tech issues and blue chips advanced in the last session before the Christmas holiday.

``Typically the last week of the year tends to be a strong period, and with tech stocks having been devastated in the last two or three weeks, there's a lot of bargain hunting going on,'' said Peter Anderson, chief investment officer at American Express Financial. ``We can call this a Santa Claus rally if it keeps going, otherwise we'll have to call it a Grinch rally.''

In late afternoon trading on Wall Street, the Nasdaq composite index was up nearly 6.0 percent, or 138.39 at 2,478.51.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up nearly 1.1 percent, rising 113.76 to 10,601.05. The Standard & Poor's 500 index climbed 23.57, a 1.9 percent gain, to 1,298.43.

Trading was light in anticipation of Monday's holiday, when the market will be closed.

Bargain hunting lifted the Dow by 168 points and Nasdaq by 7 points on Thursday, and the same appeared to be happening Friday.

Computer and printer company Hewlett-Packard, a Dow component, rose $2.25 to $31.62. Microsoft also gained ground, up $3.06 at $46.50.

Non-tech gains were solid, buoyed by rises in financial issues. Banker J.P. Morgan rose $1.06 to $168.44 and Citigroup rose $1.38 to $50.13. Drugs and consumer staples, however, showed some weakness. Merck fell $1.69 to $90.81; Procter & Gamble was off 81 cents at $73.69.

The market was unsure of how to respond to an earnings warning from Ford, sending the automaker's stock down $1.63 to $22.56 after initially trading it up.

Earnings worries have dogged the market since Labor Day, but those concerns have intensified in recent weeks because of new reports suggesting the economy is quickly slowing.

The market plunged Tuesday and Wednesday, rattled by earnings worries and the realization that the Federal Reserve would not cut interest rates before the holidays.

Also Friday, Litton jumped $15 to $77.63, a 24 percent gain, on news the defense contractor was being acquired by rival Northrop Grumman for $3.8 billion in cash. Northrop fell $7.88 to $74.06, a 9 percent drop.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners nearly 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 909.62 million shares, compared with 1.11 billion Thursday at the same point.

The Russell 2000 index rose 11.72 to 458.75.

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