Profit-Taking Snaps Dow’s Three-Day Rally

Blue-chip shares slipped Thursday after a three-day rally, but bargain hunters kept scouring the technology sector and other areas that haven’t recovered as fully from the market’s recent slide.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 32.51 to 6,976.48 as investors secured some of this week’s gains before today’s employment report, the last of this week’s big economic readings.

Broader market measures were mixed, with technology and small-company shares boosting the Nasdaq market to its fourth straight gain.

The Dow, which slid by as much as 95 points before rebounding, had gained 270 points during the prior three sessions, moving above 7,000 on Wednesday for the first time since March 12.

“What we saw today was simply some profittaking in the blue chips, which had run up nearly 10 percent from April’s lows,” said Eugene Peroni, director of technical research at Janney Montgomery Scott in Philadelphia, who found it encouraging that Thursday’s selling was contained.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by an 11-to-8 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume totaled 459.34 million shares as of 4 p.m., down sharply from Wednesday’s busy pace.

Some of the stocks that moved substantially or traded heavily Thursday: NYSE

Aames Financial, down 3-1/8 at 12-1/4.

Piper Jaffray downgraded Aames to “neutral” from “buy,” saying Wednesday’s earnings report by the home equity lender was below the investment firm’s estimates, the Dow Jones News Service reported.

Hallwood Group, up 2-5/8 at 27-1/8.

The Dallas-based company announced plans to offer $27.50 a share to repurchase up to 300,000 of its common shares, or about 19.1 percent of its publicly held stock. Hallwood has operations in real estate, energy, textiles and hotels.

NASDAQ

Cryenco Sciences, up 3/4 at 2-3/8.

Chart Industries of Eastlake, Ohio, agreed to acquire Denver-based Cryenco for $2.75 a share, or $21 million, plus assumed debt.

DOCdata, unchanged from initial offering at 13.

The compact disc maker raised $65 million in an initial public offering of its stock. Netherlands-based DOCdata said 5 million shares sold for $13 apiece, at the low end of the expected range of $13 to $15 a share.

Gateway Data Sciences, down 2-1/8 at 4-5/8.

The maker of software for retailers cautioned that it expects its fiscal first-quarter results to be below Wall Street’s forecasts.

Tseng Labs, up 1-1/16 at 4.

Compaq Computer plans to use Tseng’s multimedia engine and video processor for its PC Theatre 9000, which will deliver TV broadcasts and personal computer capabilities on a large-screen display.