India, Aug. 20 -- After moving sharply higher early in the session, stocks regained ground over the course of the trading day on Wednesday. The major averages climbed well off their worst levels of the day, although the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 remained in negative territory.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq ended the day down 142.10 points or 0.7 percent at 21,172.86 after plunging by as much as 1.9 percent in early trading. The S&P 500 also dipped 15.59 points or 0.2 percent to 6,395.78, while the Dow inched up 16.04 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 44,938.31.

The early weakness on Wall Street largely reflected an extended sell-off by technology stocks, which led the markets lower during Tuesday's session.

Tech stocks moved lower followi...