Wall Street's rally faded yesterday as profit-taking set in, but the Dow Jones industrial average still managed its first close over 8,500 since late August.

The Dow, up 528 points over the past four sessions, closed at 8,505.85, up 39.40 or about 0.5 per cent.

The last time the blue chips closed above that milestone was on August 26, before the market's precipitous late-summer drop.

But the Dow was down considerably from earlier in the session, when the market's best-known barometer was up more than 186 points. And broader market indexes also gave up gains and finished with losses on the day.

Trading was again heavy on the New York Stock Exchange. The volume totalled 947.47 million shares.