Share prices on Wall Street closed slightly up yesterday after bouncing around a bit during the day.

The Dow Jones index of 30 blue chips closed down 3.49 points to end the day at 8,113.44. An estimated 524 million share changed hands.

Gainers slightly outpaced losers by a margin of 1,397 to 1,371, with 603 issues unchanged.

On the bond market, the average rate of the Treasury Department's benchmark 30-year bonds was 6.45 per cent up from 6.43 per cent on Thursday.

On the economic front, US durable goods orders rose 2.3 per cent in June, considerably better than the slight slide that analysts had predicted.