Around the World's Markets: New York

WALL STREET advanced in early trading, but the market was left stranded below its strongest level after a technology rally stalled.

By midday, the Dow Jones was up 4 points at 10,659.

The technology-laden Nasdaq composite index was up 17 points, or 0.71 per cent, at 2,507.

Meanwhile, the prospect of an interest-rate rise still weighed on the markets. Wall Street expects a 0.25 percentage point hike in short-term rates at the 24 August meeting of the Federal Reserve led by Alan Greenspan.