NEW YORK: US stocks finished in positive territory Thursday after circling the breakeven line for much of the session, with a mild rebound by volatile Apple buoying the Nasdaq for a 0.5 per cent gain.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 13,074.04, up 39.55 points (0.30 per cent). The S&P 500 added 4.66 (0.33 per cent) at 1,413.94, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 15.57 (0.52 per cent) at 2,989.27.

Market giant Apple ended the day 1.6 per cent higher at $547.24, a day after losing 6.4 per cent in its worst one-day drop in four years.

Investors continued to dump shares of copper miner Freeport-McMoRan after it announced a $9 billion deal to buy two US oil and gas firms at hefty premiums.

The deals were widely criticised as appearing to heavily benefit the board members and top shareholders in Freeport that also had interests in the other two companies, McMoRan Exploration and Plains Exploration.

Freeport shares closed down 4.2 per cent, after losing 16 per cent Wednesday. Plains lost 3.0 per cent and McMoRan 5.1 per cent.

Intel led the Dow gainers picking up 1.6 per cent, while AT&T topped a handful of losers, down 0.8 per cent.

Casino operator MGM Resorts surged 10 per cent after gaining an upgrade on its debt from Standard & Poor's, to B+ from B-.

Starbucks rose 5.7 per cent after settling a British tax spat with a commitment to pay around $16.1 million in corporate taxes in Britain in each of the next two years, after being tarred by politicians as a tax dodger.

Bond prices gained. The 10-year US Treasury yield dipped to 1.58 per cent from 1.59 per cent late Wednesday, while the 30-year fell to 2.76 per cent from 2.78 per cent.

Bond prices and yields move inversely.