Blue Chips Lead Market Rebound : ABC, CCC Jump in Mixed Stock Trading; Dow 30 Advances 2.32

Broadcasting stocks held center stage in a mixed session on Wall Street today.

American Broadcasting soared 30 7/8 to 105 3/8 and Capital Cities Communications climbed 7 1/2 to 183 1/2 after opening delays of several hours for each. The two companies announced early in the afternoon that they had agreed on a merger plan.

In the general market, analysts said traders were buying blue chips on the belief that many of them were artificially depressed in Friday’s late decline.

Friday was the expiration date for some options on stock-market indexes. Brokers reported that professional traders engaged in complex trading strategies involving the options scrambled to sell many of the big-name stocks just before the close.

Some Stocks Rebound

With this temporary pressure out of the way, some of the stocks rebounded.

The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials gained 2.32 to 1,249.67.

But declines outpaced advances by about 3 to 2 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Big Board volume totaled 94.02 million shares, against 105.19 million on Friday.

The NYSE’s composite index edged up 0.05 to 102.51.

At the American Stock Exchange, the market value index was down 0.59 at 222.84.

Bond prices fell in light, early trading, while short-term interest rates stabilized after tumbling Friday.

Yields Off Again

Yields on three-month Treasury bills, which plunged 26 basis points Friday, were off just 1 more basis point in the early going today at 8.45%. A basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point.

Analysts attributed Friday’s sharp drop in short-term Treasury bill yields to a “flight to quality” by investors worried about the stability of the banking system after Ohio’s governor ordered state-chartered savings and loans closed to avoid runs by depositors.

Today, state and federal officials were working to try to avoid new financing problems at the Ohio thrifts.

Three-month Treasury bills are often purchased in times of uncertainty because of their government backing and liquidity.