Stocks Mostly Lower but Dow Closes Up 5.76

Stock prices finished mostly lower Monday, suggesting that the wild gyrations of Friday’s session frightened many investors out of the market, at least temporarily.

Wall Street analysts said some profit taking, weakness in the bond market and fear of higher interest rates also played roles in the price decline.

Behaving meekly compared to its violent swings and 44.15-point loss Friday, the Dow Jones average of 30 industrials seesawed in a narrow range and closed 5.76 higher at 2,107.28. But it was the only major indicator to show an advance and did not reflect widespread losses in the broader market.

Losing issues outpaced gainers by about a 5-3 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, where 968 issues fell, 599 rose and 404 remained unchanged. Volume totaled 138.80 million shares, less than half the record 302.39 million shares traded Friday.

Many investors simply stayed out of the market, wary and confused over the previous session’s frenzied activity and unexpected losses, analysts said.

“I think the mood was sort of tentative today,” cq said Robert B. Ritter, senior vice president and technical analyst at the New York investment firm of L. F. Rothschild, Unterberg, Towbin. “Friday at best was an unnerving experience and investors are very carefully dipping their toes in the water to see how things are going to go.”

In the credit markets, bond prices fell, with the Treasury’s 30-year bond declining more than 3/8 of a point, or more than $3.75 per $1,000 in face amount, while its yield rose to 7.48% from 7.45% late Friday.

Corporate and municipal issues also were lower.

In the secondary market for Treasury securities, prices of short-term maturities were about 1/16 point lower, intermediate maturities ranged from 1/8 point to 5/16 point lower and 20-year issues down 7/16 point, according to the investment firm of Salomon Bros.

In corporate trading, industrials were off 1/2 point and utilities were down point in quiet trading.