Stocks ended a highly volatile session mostly higher in New York yesterday as investors rewarded companies that posted strong earnings reports for the final quarter of 1999.

But market averages pitched wildly as the threat of rising interest rates convinced many investors that corporate profits may be pinched later this year.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 21.72, or 0.2 per cent, to close at 11,029.89. The blue-chip index dropped as much as 124.72 points earlier in the session and had appeared to be on track for its sixth consecutive decline.

Broader stock indicators also bounced back from major losses to finish higher. The Standard and Poor's 500 rose 8.51 to 1,410.04, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 71.34 to 4,167.42.