Blue-chip stocks rose sharply in New York yesterday as investors looked for bargains amid turmoil in financial markets abroad and despite uncertainty over the outcome of President Bill Clinton's testimony in the Monica Lewinsky case.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 149.85 points - or 1.8% - to 8,574.85 after wiping out an early 56-point slide.

The blue-chip advance, which accelerated in the early afternoon, boosted most broad-market indexes, but declining issues outnumbered advancers overall.

The rally still left the Dow more than 750 points shy of record terrain. The month-long slide from July 17th's record of 9,337.97 has been largely fuelled by continuing turmoil on foreign markets and signs of a domestic slowdown.

Meanwhile, in the world's other financial hot spot, the Russian central bank devalued the ruble, a move expected to cause more hardship for Russian consumers.