Stocks in New York moved higher yesterday, supported by isolated strength in consumer and financial services issues, but the broad market lagged as a recovery in technology stocks proved uneven.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 103.16 points to 9,298.63. But the tone of the market again failed to impress traders, who have been complaining for some time that even on days when the Dow finishes higher, the trend is not confirmed across the entire market.

The Dow was led higher by General Motors, Merck and IBM. Financial services issues were mixed after an announcement that Dutch insurer Aegon NV is buying the US life insurance company TransAmerica.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a seven-to-five margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,764 up, 1,251 down and 564 unchanged. NYSE volume totalled 738.46 million shares.