THE Dow Jones industrial average suffered its worst point drop since the crash of 1987 as rising interest rates sparked profittaking on the stock market's record setting advance.

The Dow dropped 192.25 points to close at 7604.26, its biggest point drop since it lost 508 points on the Black Monday crash of October 19th 1987 and slightly more than a 190.58 point drop in October 1989.

Both of those drops were far more significant in percentage terms than yesterday's 2.5 per cent slide because the Dow has more than tripled in value over the past 10 years. Last week, the Dow broke above 7800 for the first time, closing at a record high 7796.51 on Friday.

The Standard and Poor's 500 stock list fell 20.08 to 878.62, and the NYSE composite index fell 9.35 to 458.49. The Nasdaq composite index fell 12.77 to 1,434.33, and the American Stock Exchange index fell 2.85 to 620.42.