NEW YORK, June 21: US blue chips finished slightly higher on Friday as hopes for an economic recovery were bolstered by bellwether General Electric Co.’s earnings forecast and investors anticipated an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve next week.

But the tech-dominated Nasdaq slipped, dragged down by weakness in networking and semiconductor shares. Traders said investors locked in profits after the index’s rise of more than 29 per cent since mid-March.

General Electric affirmed its earnings outlook for the second quarter and full year. The news surprised some analysts, who had expected the diversified company to lower the range of its earnings guidance. Its shares ended up 15 cents, or half a per cent, at $30.01.

The market’s up because people feel good about the economy, the interest rate cut we’re probably going to get next week, and the guidance from GE, a bellwether for the US economy, said Steve Kolano, an equity trader at The Boston Company Asset Management.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 21.22 points, or 0.23 per cent, at 9,200.75. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added .99 point, or 0.1 per cent, at 995.69. The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index gave up 3.88 points, or 0.24 per cent, to 1,644.76.

For the week, the Dow ended up 0.92 per cent and the S&P gained 0.72 per cent. It was the fourth straight week of gains for the two gauges. The Nasdaq rose 1.14 per cent.

The Federal Reserve holds a two-day policy meeting on Tuesday and Wednesday and is expected to lower the federal funds rate, now at 1.25 per cent, for the 13th time since January 2001. Market watchers are divided about whether the Fed will cut interest rates by 25 or 50 basis points.

Trading was heavy, with about 1.69 billion shares changing hands on the Big Board and roughly 1.77 billion shares traded on the Nasdaq. Decliners narrowly outnumbered advancers by a ratio of 17 to 16 on the Big Board and were about evenly matched on the Nasdaq.

Some of the market’s volatility was due to “quadruple-witching” the expiration of stock index futures, stock index options, equity options and single stock futures.

On a day of little economic news, traders attributed the market’s gains to buying by fund managers afraid of underperforming the market’s main gauges.

General Motors Corp. was in the spotlight after the automaker said it would sell $13 billion in bonds to shore up its US pension plan. Its shares ended up 1.37 per cent, or 52 cents, at $38.59.

On the Nasdaq, business software company PeopleSoft Inc. said its board unanimously rejected a sweetened $6.3 billion hostile takeover bid by Oracle Corp, saying the offer was inadequate and a merger would violate antitrust laws.

PeopleSoft shares fell 19 cents to $17.42, while those of Oracle fell 41 cents, or 3.08 per cent, at $12.93.—Reuters