Stocks Close Slightly Higher; Dow Gains 1.13
Stock prices showed some meager gains on Friday in the quietest trading in more than a month.
Analysts said traders were proceeding cautiously as they awaited news from talks this weekend among financial leaders of the major industrialized countries.
The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials edged up 1.13 to 1,769.69, finishing the week with a net gain of 7.04 points.
Volume on the New York Stock Exchange came to 115.27 million shares, down from 134.29 million Thursday and the lightest total since a 104.35-million-share day on Aug. 25.
Takeover Issues
Takeover news and speculation kept some individual stocks jumping. Anderson, Clayton climbed 4 1/2 to 70 as Quaker Oats made a bid to acquire the company for $65 a share.
Gelco jumped 4 7/8 to 23 3/8. An investor group proposed talks toward acquiring the company, and Gelco said its directors would consider the question on Tuesday.
On the downside, Hewlett-Packard dropped 1 3/4 to 37 7/8. The company said Thursday that shipments of its new Spectrum minicomputer would be delayed about six months by software problems.
Other losers among the computer and technology issues included Digital Equipment, down 3 1/8 at 89 1/2; Data General, down 1 5/8 at 29, and Texas Instruments, down 1 at 112 1/2.
In the credit markets, bond prices rose as traders took encouragement from falling gold prices and a new rumor that Japan might cut its discount rate, analysts said.
