Stocks Rise Generally, but Dow Is Down 6.96

Stock prices were generally higher Thursday on Wall Street, bolstered by a strengthened dollar and a stronger bond market but stung in some quarters by computerized program selling at the end of the session, analysts said.

The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials closed at 2,275.99, down 6.96 from Wednesday and off by 62.79 points since last Friday. Advancing issues outpaced declining issues by more than five to two at the NYSE.

Big Board volume totaled 189.57 million shares, against 198.15 million in the previous session. Volume for the week averaged 208.82 million shares, compared to an average of 177.95 million shares last week.

Thursday’s session started out with broad gains that sent the closely watched Dow index up nearly 28 points by early afternoon.

The dollar had been strengthening in the wake of statements Wednesday night by Treasury Secretary James A. Baker III that it had fallen far enough against other major currencies, including the Japanese yen.

This encouraged higher bond prices, which in turn helped boost stocks, analysts said.

Not long after midday Thursday, however, the rally in the Dow began to fade.

“The dollar came off its highs; bonds followed. The equity market follows bonds,” said Hildegarde Zagorski, an analyst at Prudential-Bache Securities.

AT&T; led the most-active issues on the Big Board, unchanged at 24 3/4.

IBM was down 7/8 at 150, while Prime Computer was up 1 at 24 3/8, Honeywell gained 1 5/8 and Unisys rose 1 3/8 to close at 104.

General Motors gained 3/4 to close at 86 3/4, Idaho Power was up 5/8 at 24 3/4 and Cincinnati Gas & Electric advanced 7/8.

In the credit markets, U.S. government security prices climbed markedly in early Tokyo trading before pulling back slightly later in New York as traders prepared for the long Easter weekend.

The key 30-year Treasury bond rose 13/16 point, or about $8 per $1,000 in face value, by late afternoon. Its yield declined to 8.21% from Wednesday’s 8.30%.

“Today, traders became a little less fearful,” said William Gross of Pacific Investment Management in Newport Beach.

Still, some traders remained skeptical of the dollar’s stability.

In the secondary market for Treasury bonds, prices of short-term government issues were up 3/16 to point, intermediate maturities were up between 9/32 point and 1/2 point and long-term issues rose between 9/16 point and 13/16 point, according to Salomon Bros.

The federal funds rate, the interest on overnight loans between banks, was quoted at 6.125%, down from 6.375% on Wednesday.