Stocks plunged in New York yesterday, wiping out Wednesday's rebound, but the market held steady in the face of another day of panicky selling overseas.
The Dow Jones industrial average fell 93.46 points - or 1.1 per cent - to 8,459.50, halting a rally that began on Tuesday afternoon.
Analysts blamed the losses on the continuing slide of the Japanese yen, which hit an eight-year low against the dollar this week.
The Standard and Poor's 500 was down 9.31 at 1,074.91, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index was down 22.99 at 1,802.54.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a five-to-three margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,122 up, 1,897 down and 517 unchanged. NYSE volume totalled 656.67 million shares, against 707.70 million in the previous session. The NYSE composite index fell 4.40 to 541.06.