New York - Wall Street stock indices climbed on Wednesday as positive technology and mining-sector news eclipsed a poor earnings report from mortgage giant Freddie Mac.

Cisco Systems Inc, the largest producer of networking equipment, reported fourth-quarter profits that were slightly better than expected while revenue had come in above 10 billion dollars for the first time.

Microsoft Corp improved after a UBS AG analyst predicted the software giant was preparing to buy back 20 billion dollars in stock over the coming thee months.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc surged more than 10 per cent on takeover rumours in the mining sector.

Stocks had opened lower Wednesday morning after the government- chartered Freddie Mac - which owns or guarantees about half of all US mortgages with its partner Fannie Mae - reported an 821-million- dollar net loss in the second quarter.

Freddie's chief executive Richard Syron predicted the housing slump was far from over and would continue to affect earnings for the remainder of the year.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 40.30 points, or 0.35 per cent, to 11,656.07. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 4.31 points, or 0.34 per cent, to 1,289.19. The technology- heavy Nasdaq Composite Index gained 28.54 points, or 1.21 per cent, to 2,378.37.

The dollar rose to 64.87 euro cents from 64.70 euro cents on Tuesday and to 109.65 Japanese yen from 108.33 yen.

Gold futures fell 3.10 dollars to 883 dollars per fine ounce. (dpa)