Stocks rebounded modestly in New York yesterday after a rollercoaster ride.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 59.47 - or 0.7% - at 8,546.78 in a choppy day that suggests investors were still shaken by Tuesday's 300-point drop and the Dow's near 10 per cent retreat in just 12 sessions since it closed at a record.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 13 to nine margin on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume totalled a hefty 849.96 million shares, up from 826.76 million at the same point on Tuesday. The NYSE composite index was up 2.65 at 544.01.

The Standard and Poor's 500 was up 8.91 at 1,081.03, and the Nasdaq composite index was up 2.33 at 1,787.97.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies was down 3.14 at 398.49 and the smaller-company dominated American Stock Exchange composite index was down 6.69 at 672.07.