(Repeats to fix subhed format)
* Beijing's move to cool inflation excludes rate rise
* Prospect of more aggressive action had been a concern
* Several M&A deals announced; GE and Dell among buyers
* Dow up 0.2 pct, S&P 500 flat, Nasdaq down 0.5 pct
* For up-to-the-minute market news see []
(Updates close with details and quote on technology stocks)
By Ryan Vlastelica
NEW YORK, Dec 13 (Reuters) - The Nasdaq closed lower to
end eight straight days of gains on Monday as some large-cap
tech stocks slid in a late-day sell-off.
The Dow cut its gains and the S&P 500 ended a thinly
traded session flat as optimism faded over China's move to
tame its growth, and as some technical indicators suggested a
near-term pullback could be in the cards.
About 7.32 billion shares traded on the New York Stock
Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq, well
below the year's daily average of 8.62 billion.
Stocks earlier had risen as optimism China would not
aggressively head off growth boosted energy and materials
stocks.
Companies that sell oil, like Chevron Corp <CVX.N>, and
those that make mining equipment, like Caterpillar Inc
<CAT.N>, drove the Dow higher. At the close, both Caterpillar
and Chevron were up 1.5 percent or more. The PHLX oil service
index <.OSX> rose 1.3 percent.
Investors had feared China would raise interest rates to
slow growth, but instead it merely increased the amount of
extra capital top banks must hold, a less severe move by the
world's second-largest economy. For details see
[]
"Even though [] isn't fueling us 100 percent, if it
was to tighten, that would mean less strength in a weak
recovery here," said Jeffrey Friedman, senior market
strategist at Lind-Waldock in Chicago.
The Dow Jones industrial average <> gained 18.24
points, or 0.16 percent, to end at 11,428.56, well off its
intraday high of 11,480.03. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index
<.SPX> inched up a mere 0.06 of a point, or 0.00 percent, to
finish at 1,240.46. But the Nasdaq Composite Index <>
fell 12.63 points, or 0.48 percent, to close at 2,624.91.
The S&P 500 reached another high for the year on Monday,
advancing to an intraday peak at 1,246.73. The index's steady
climb since breaching 1,228 -- a key retracement of the
2007-2009 bear market losses -- has been judged a sign of
further gains, even as the relative strength index suggests
stocks are nearing an overbought condition.
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For a factbox on the top U.S. mutual fund holdings,
see []
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APPLE PARES GAIN, DELL DROPS
The Nasdaq ended the day solidly lower as some tech names,
including Apple Inc <AAPL.O> and EMC Corp <EMC.N>, traded off
highs reached earlier in the session. Apple rose more than 1
percent in afternoon trading, but at the close, it was up just
0.4 percent at $321.67. The stock is up 53 percent so far this
year.
"We've definitely seen a lot of strength in large-cap tech
recently, and they took a bit of a pause in the afternoon with
people winding down at the end of the day," said Timothy
Harder, chief investment officer at Peak Capital Investment
Services in Denver. "There wasn't much to spur trading, and in
the absence of any real news and light volume, there wasn't
much to keep us up."
Healthcare stocks had jumped briefly on news that a
Virginia judge invalidated a key part of the March healthcare
overhaul championed by President Obama, but these shares
quickly fell back. After rising as much as 1.6 percent, the
Morgan Stanley Healthcare Payor Index <.HMO> slipped 0.3
percent. Shares of health insurer Aetna <AET.N> rose 1 percent
to $30.92.
In deal news, General Electric Co <GE.N> said it would buy
British oilfield services company Wellstream Holdings Plc
<WSML.L> while Dell Inc <DELL.O> agreed to buy data storage
company Compellent Technologies Inc <CML.N>.
GE's stock shed 0.6 percent to $17.62 after reaching a
deal to buy Wellstream by raising its bid for the British oil
drilling pipe maker by 6 percent to $1.3 billion.
[].
Dell fell 3.9 percent to $13.36 and was one of the biggest
percentage losers in both the S&P and Nasdaq 100 <> after
it sweetened its cash offer for Compellent to $27.75 a share.
Compellent fell 2.5 percent to $27.98 after trading above $34
last week.
Private equity firm Bain Capital agreed to buy IMCD,
valuing the Dutch chemicals firm at around $857.5 million,
while scientific instruments maker Thermo Fisher Scientific
Inc <TMO.N> is set to acquire Dionex Corp <DNEX.O> for $2.1
billion. [] and [].
Thermo Fisher shares rose 4.8 percent to $55.56 and Dionex
jumped 20 percent to $117.83.
U.S. President Barack Obama's tax deal with Republicans
will likely win grudging passage in the U.S. Congress, backers
and critics agreed, after Obama clashed with liberals in his
own party who branded it a giveaway to the rich.
[]
Declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE by
a ratio of about 8 to 7, while on the Nasdaq, about eight
stocks fell for every five that rose.
(Reporting by Ryan Vlastelica; Editing by Jan Paschal)
