US stocks rose yesterday although earlier gains were muted by selling to pocket profits from Wednesday's enormous rally, with retailers and biotechs gaining and healthcare and telecommunication shares slipping. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 32.66 points, or 0.29 per cent, to 11,248.58, according to the latest data. About 75 per cent of the Dow's rise came from tech giant Hewlett-Packard. H-P shares rose $3.96, or 14.8 per cent, to $30.70, after the company reported quarterly profits that beat reduced estimates. "People are willing to take profits at this level," said Ted Oberhaus, manager of equity trading at Lord Abbett & Co. "If you told any institutional trader that the Dow would be near 11,300 after the Fed meeting (on Tuesday) , they would have been surprised."

Among individual issues, retailer Kmart Corp. gained 45 cents to $10.58 after reporting a quarterly loss below what analysts on average had expected, in part because of improved customer service, the company said.