WALL Street stocks trimmed steep losses late in yesterday's session as bond prices improved following a successful auction of five year US Treasury notes.

But investors still severely punished the shares of companies that reported less than spectacular profits.

The Dow Jones industrial aver age dropped 25.34 points to close at 6,036.46, having recovered from a loss of more than 60 points.

Declines outnumbered advances by a 6 to 5 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,081 up, 1,286 down and 886 unchanged.

NYSE volume totalled 6 million shares, against 410.68 million in the previous session.

The NYSE composite fell 0.31 to 375.91.

The Standard and Poor's 500 composite rose 0.70 to 707.27.

The American Stock Exchange's market value index fell 2.56 to 570.73.

The Nasdaq composite index rose 6.38 to 1,226.38.