Losses have been pared as the shock over the move by the Chinese authorities to lift the reserve requirements for banks by half a percentage point wears off.

The market is also taking heart from US retail sales, which rose 0.5% in January, a bigger rise than economists expected. The gain followed a 0.1% decline in February. US consumer confidence, however, fell unexpectedly in January. The Reuters/ University of Michigan preliminary consumer sentiment index eased to 73.7 from January's 74.4.

Having been bereft of risers in mid-morning the Dow Jones industrial average now numbers a handful of risers among its constituents, including defensive favourites such as soft drinks producer Coca Cola and household goods maker Proctor & Gamble.

The Dow is down 44 at 10,099 while the S&P 500 is 3 points weaker at 1,075. The tech heavy NASDAQ Composite is actually showing a gain on the day, and is up 1 point at 2,178.

Metals related stocks bear much of the brunt of the fall-out from the Chinese government's decision, with miner Freeport McMoran and aluminium producer Alcoa among those hardest hit.

3M, the household and office products group, tumbled after Merrill Lynch cut its rating from 'neutral' to 'underperform'.

On the bright side, mobile phone maker Motorola moved up sharply after revealing details of its plans to split itself into two separate companies next year.

Elsewhere in the technology sector, anti-virus software producer McAfee was wanted after fourth quarter earnings came in ahead of market expectations. Sector peer Symantec, in contrast, is on the slide.

S&P 500 - Risers
Motorola Inc. (MOT) $7.23 +8.72%
Jds Uniphase Corp. (JDSU) $9.38 +8.06%
Office Depot Inc. (ODP) $6.23 +7.04%
Mcafee Inc. (MFE) $39.89 +5.28%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $17.67 +3.21%
United States Steel (X) $48.44 +3.04%

S&P 500 - Fallers
Symantec Corp. (SYMC) $16.74 -2.84%
Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) $11.54 -2.80%
Textron Inc. (TXT) $18.46 -2.64%
Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) $31.78 -2.62%
Cigna Corp. (CI) $32.50 -2.52%
FLIR Systems Inc. (FLIR) $26.77 -2.37%

Dow Jones I.A - Risers
Intel Corp. (INTC) $20.58 +2.59%
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT) $56.41 +0.46%

Dow Jones I.A - Fallers
3M Co. (MMM) $79.03 -1.54%
Boeing Co. (BA) $59.73 -1.42%
Alcoa Inc. (AA) $13.39 -1.40%
General Electric Co. (GE) $15.57 -1.27%

Nasdaq 100 - Risers
Nii Holdings Inc. (NIHD) $36.23 +3.22%
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) $17.67 +3.21%
Research In Motion Ltd. (RIMM) $71.34 +3.14%
Marvell Technology Group Ltd. (MRVL) $19.65 +2.77%

Nasdaq 100 - Fallers
Symantec Corp. (SYMC) $16.74 -2.84%
Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE) $31.78 -2.62%
FLIR Systems Inc. (FLIR) $26.77 -2.37%
Wynn Resorts Ltd. (WYNN) $63.62 -2.07%

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