Dow off 3.7; Nasdaq
hits record

NEW YORK -- Bellwether technology stocks drove the Nasdaq market to its first record since before October's selloff, but a potential resolution to the Iraq crisis failed to ignite a broad rally in a pricey market.

The Dow Jones industrial average traded in a narrow range all day, closing 3.74 points lower at 8,410.20, but the Standard & Poor's 500 padded Friday's record high and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite beat Oct. 9's record close of 1,745.85.

Advancers led decliners by a 10-to-9 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,557 up, 1,426 down and 489 unchanged. NYSE volume was 549.96 million shares, vs. 591.59 million Friday.

The S&P 500 rose 3.93 to 1,038.14, and the NYSE composite index gained 0.92 to 538.41, also closing at a record high for the second day in a row. The Nasdaq composite rose 23.63 to 1,751.76.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies climbed 2.30 to 456.29, but the small-company dominated American Stock Exchange composite index fell 0.11 to 689.08.

The price of the Treasury's main 30-year bond fell 7/16 point, or 4.37 per $1,000 in face value, by late afternoon, while its yield rose to 5.90 percent from 5.87 percent late Friday.

Stocks opened the session stronger amid the news that U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan may have averted a U.S.-led military strike on Iraq by securing an agreement from Saddam Hussein to give weapons inspectors unlimited access to his presidential palaces.