MORTGAGE RATES RISE AGAIN.(BUSINESS)

Byline: JEANNINE AVERSA Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Mortgage rates rose sharply for the second week in a row, with benchmark 30-year mortgage rates at their highest level since late January.

The average interest rate on a fixed-rate 30-year mortgage was 5.91 percent for the week ending March 28, the mortgage company Freddie Mac reported Thursday in its weekly nationwide survey.

Last week, rates on 30-year mortgages were 5.79 percent, after dipping to a record low rate of 5.61 percent the week before. That rate was the lowest since Freddie Mac began tracking 30-year mortgages in 1971. Records that reach back earlier than Freddie Mac's indicate …