Persistent concerns about rising oil prices and their impact on corporate profits sent stocks sharply lower on Wall Street yesterday, but bargain hunting late in the session pulled technology stocks higher, enabling them to rally for a second straight day.

The Dow Jones industrials, down as much as 227 points in afternoon trading, recovered more than half that drop, to close down 101.37.

The tech-dominated Nasdaq composite index rose 31.80 after being down most of the day. And the Standard and Poor's 500 was off 8.56, also up from its lows of the day. The US stock market has been down for most of September, dogged by worries about corporate profits as the economy shows increasing signs that it is slowing.

But the markets yesterday were more erratic than usual, with all the major indexes fluctuating throughout the day. Oil, trading at decade-high levels, is one reason for the volatility, said Tom Galvin, chief equity strategist at Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette Securities. A barrel of light sweet crude sold for $37.20 yesterday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after trading as high as $37.80.