February 6, 2003	Thursday	Zul Hijjah 4,1423

NEW YORK, Feb 5: Stocks rose on Wednesday as US Secretary of State Colin Powell tried to rally global support for disarming Iraq by offering evidence the United States said shows Baghdad is hiding banned weapons.

Wall Street tuned into Powell’s presentation before the UN Security Council, which was broadcast live, that offered satellite photos and recorded conversations that he said showed Iraq was hiding weapons of mass destruction from inspectors.

Traders said his speech seemed to boost the odds of a military strike against Iraq, lifting some of the uncertainty that has plagued Wall Street for months.

“We are finally hearing some evidence of Iraqi behaviour regarding the UN resolution which has meat on the bone,” said Alan Ackerman, a market strategist at Fahnestock & Co. “The veil of uncertainty is being lifted and the mask of deception is being removed.”

The market pared some gains during Powell’s speech, but remained in positive ground. The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial average climbed 46 points, or 0.58 per cent, to 8,059. The broad Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 3 points, or 0.45 percent, to 852. The tech-loaded Nasdaq Composite jumped 12 points, or 0.92 per cent, to 1,318. The major market gauges had been up about 0.2 per cent before the speech.

“There’s no more doubt,” said John Kornitzer, fund manager at Kornitzer Capital Management, which oversees $2.5 billion.

Few companies have been willing to offer upbeat outlooks for the year ahead in such a murky geopolitical environment.

Cisco Systems Inc. ticked up 20 cents to $13.40 and ranked as the most active on Nasdaq. The technology bellwether joined a slew of corporate giants offering a cautious forecast in an economy facing a slack recovery and a possible war, but the No. 1 maker of gear that directs Internet traffic posted a record quarterly profit that topped estimates.

Alcoa Inc. rallied 76 cents, or almost 4 per cent, to $19.93. Investment bank Prudential Securities raised its rating for the world’s largest aluminium producer to “buy” from “hold,” saying “price appreciation can be expected as Alcoa begins to execute its debt- and cost-reduction programmes.”

Sprint Corp, the No 4 US long-distance telephone company, said it swung to a profit in the fourth quarter from a loss a year earlier as cost-cutting outweighed weak demand and stiff competition for long-distance and data services.

Sprint PCS, the wireless unit, rallied 31 cents, or 8 per cent, to $4. Sprint FON, which represents Sprint’s long distance and local phone and data businesses, jumped 39 cents, or 3 per cent, to $12.75.—Reuters