Wall St gains, snapping bout of weakness

By Ryan Vlastelica

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were higher on Wednesday, with shares erasing early losses on the back of strength in technology shares, which offset continued weakness in energy names.

The S&P 500 remains under its 14-day moving average, and found resistance near that technical level at its session high, a sign of weakening near-term momentum. Despite that, many analysts view the market's long-running uptrend as intact. The S&P is less than 1 percent below a record close hit on Friday.

The index had posted its biggest one-day drop since Aug. 5 on Tuesday, falling on concerns the Federal Reserve could raise interest rates sooner than some investors had expected. Higher rates would raise borrowing costs for individuals and businesses. The Fed's still-accommodative monetary policies have provided a floor for equity prices.

"There's a question of whether the recent weakness is the start of a new trend or just part of a business cycle that remains in an uptrend, but it is clearly the latter," said Anastasia Amoroso, global market strategist with J.P. Morgan Funds in New York.

"Equities offer better value than other asset classes, and so long as the Fed is not overly tight, the bull market will not end. We're nowhere near that level yet."

Apple Inc rose 2.4 percent to $100.36, rebounding after a volatile session on Tuesday, when it ended the day with modest losses in the wake of a product launch that garnered a mixed reception. The tech titan lifted technology shares 0.7 percent, the top-performing group of the day.

Energy shares fell 0.8 percent and were the worst-performing group, down amid a 1.2 percent drop in the price of crude oil. The group has been under pressure of late, down 4.2 percent in September.

The Dow Jones industrial average was rising 46.59 points, or 0.27 percent, to 17,060.46, the S&P 500 was gaining 4.85 points, or 0.24 percent, to 1,993.29 and the Nasdaq Composite was adding 25.55 points, or 0.56 percent, to 4,577.84.

The largest percentage gainer on the New York Stock Exchange was Palo Alto Networks, rising 11.17 percent, while the largest percentage decliner was Pulse Electronics, down 17.74 percent.

Among the most active stocks on the NYSE were Bank of America, up 0.74 percent to $16.26; Petrobras, down 3.81 percent to $17.15 and Rite Aid Corp, unchanged at $6.30.

On the Nasdaq, among the most actively traded were Apple, GT Advanced Technologies, down 13.8 percent to $12.88 and On Track Innovations, up 25.3 percent to $4.16.

Declining issues were outnumbering advancers on the NYSE by 1,536 to 1,437, for a 1.07-to-1 ratio on the downside; on the Nasdaq, 1,572 issues were rising and 1,075 falling for a 1.46-to-1 ratio favoring advancers.

The broad S&P 500 index was posting 13 new 52-week highs and 5 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite was recording 39 new highs and 49 new lows.

(Editing by Nick Zieminski)