Amgen Inc. rose $6.38 to $75.75 on Tuesday after Standard &Poor's announced that the Thousand Oaks, Calif., company wasbeing added to the S&P 500 at the close of trading.

The addition of the first biotechnology company to the list wasa fitting end to a year in which biotech stocks outshone the restof the market.

BioWorld's group of 142 bioscience stocks -- which includes"pure" biotech companies, in-licensing and other clinicaldevelopment players, and companies developing enablingtechnologies -- gained 176 percent for the year. In comparison,the NASDAQ composite rose 57 percent, the Dow JonesIndustrial Average was up 20 percent, and the S&P 500 pickedup 26 percent.

Merrill Lynch analyst Stuart Weisbrod, while continuing torecommend purchases of Immunex Corp. and RegeneronPharmaceuticals Inc. shares at current prices, on Tuesdayurged investors to exhibit caution. Although the sector iscontinuing to outperform, he wrote, "In the intermediate-terma number of stocks are approaching full value and anydisappointments or even an uptick in rates could spelldisaster." -- Karen Bernstein

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