US stock markets bounced after a torrid opening on Tuesday, bargain-hunters and gains for Apple pushing the tech-heavy Nasdaq and the Dow Jones Industrial Average into positive territory after two days of heavy losses. 

Both the S&P 500 and the Dow sank more than four percent on Monday, their biggest falls since August 2011, as concerns over rising US interest rates and government bond yields hit record-high valuations of stocks.

New York’s three main indexes sank as much as two percent on the opening bell but they quickly moved back into positive territory.

An almost two percent gain for Apple was at the heart of an almost half percent gain for the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC.

“Daily drops of three percent or more have been buying opportunities for the S&P 500 post financial crisis,” said Lori Calvasina, head of US equity strategy at RBC Capital Markets.

At 9.49am ET (1449 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI gained 0.25 percent to 24,406.14. The S&P 500 .SPX rose 0.2 percent to 2,654.25 and the Nasdaq 0.4 percent to 6,993.47.

- Reuters