Stocks fell sharply in New York, giving back more than half of Wednesday's big gain, as some traders chose not to wait until next Tuesday to see if the Federal Reserve comes through with an expected cut in interest rates. The Dow Jones industrial average finished 152.42 points - or by 1.9 per cent lower - at 8,001.99 after nearly surrendering all of Wednesday's 257-point surge. Broader stock indicators also suffered heavy losses as portfolio managers, facing the imminent close to a bruising quarter, tried to protect some of Wednesday's unexpected bounty.

The Standard and Poor's 500 fell 23.37 to 1,042.72, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 39.93 to 1,720.34. Declining issues outnumbered advancers by nearly a two-to-one margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,089 up, 2,042 down and 413 unchanged. NYSE volume totalled 799.67 million shares. The NYSE composite index fell 10.36 to 516.59.