Bioscience stock buying continued for a second day onThursday, pushing up prices across the board.

The AMEX Biotechnology Index added 7.76 points to its four-point gain from Wednesday, closing at 143.28. The index is upnearly 9 percent since Tuesday.

Chiron Corp. (NASDAQ:CHIR) jumped $3.50 to $40.50. NeurogenCorp. (NASDAQ:NRGN) picked up $2.75 to $10.50 after tradingas high as $11 during the session.

Affymax N.V. (NASDAQ:AFMXF), Alteon Inc. (NASDAQ:ALTN),Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN), Idexx Laboratories Corp.(NASDAQ:IDXX), Synergen Corp. (NASDAQ:SYGN), and R&D spin-offs Aramed Inc. (NASDAQ:ARAMZ) and Tocor II(NASDAQ:TOCRZ) all gained at least $2.

Also on Thursday, the Chicago Board Options Exchange saidoption trading would begin today on Ecogen Inc.(NASDAQ:EECN).

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