Stocks moved higher in later afternoon trading on Friday as investors loaded up on some battered shares on the last trading day of a brutal quarter.

Still, the trading pace was slow as investors weighed two contradictory economic numbers and hesitated to make big bets after bears rampaged through all three major stock market indexes in the first quarter, sending the blue-chip Dow Jones industrial average to its worst first-quarter performance since 1960.

Semiconductor shares slumped on worries that sales will continue to slow after bad news by Micron Technology Inc. American Express Co., with a gain of $2.39 at $41.35, helped buoy the bluechip Dow on merger speculation. Citigroup edged down 25 cents to $44.45 while FleetBoston Financial Corp. edged 70 cents higher at $37.40.

Intel Corp. shed 1-1/16 to $26.