Blue chip stocks rose in New York yesterday after an upbeat speech from Federal Reserve Chairman Mr Alan Greenspan which investors took as a sign that the Fed may have done with raising rates to slow down the economy.

High-tech issues continued a modest decline, however.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 80.61 at 10,727.19. The Nasdaq composite index fell 24.02 to 3,956.27 as tech stocks pulled back from a rally earlier in the day. The Standard and Poor's 500 index edged up 3.78 points to 1,479.40.

In a speech to the National Governors' Association, Greenspan repeated his view that the explosion in the use of computers and other high-tech devices has boosted America's productivity, the amount of output for each hour of work.