Dow Up 13.81; Stocks Advance 6th Day in Row : Market Rebounds From Midday Selling Wave

The stock market gained ground for the sixth-straight session Monday, riding out some afternoon selling as interest rates bounced around erratically.

The Dow Jones index of 30 industrials rose 13.81 to 2,391.54, creeping nearer to its record closing high of 2,405.54 set on April 6. Over the last six trading days, the average has climbed 65.39 points.

Volume on the New York Stock Exchange came to 156.92 million shares, against 175.07 million in the previous session.

Despite any inflation and interest rate worries that may have cropped up, however, brokers said investing institutions seemed eager to increase their stock holdings before making their midyear reports to clients at the end of this month.

Though stocks have been showing healthy gains lately, analysts say the market faces a challenging period later in the week in the quarterly “triple witching hour.”

In a new twist, some of a group of expiring stock-index options and futures will be settled at the opening on Friday, rather than the close.

Could Extend Volatility

Thus, brokers say, if activities of program traders engaged in multiple strategies involving options or futures and individual stocks are going to result in any wide swings in the markets, that volatility could start to set in on Thursday and conceivably continue through Friday’s session.

In Monday’s trading, blue chips among the volume leaders included International Business Machines, up 3 at 159 5/8; Eastman Kodak, up 2 at 84 7/8; General Electric, up 3/4 at 54 5/8, and American Express, up 1/8 at 35 7/8.

In the credit markets, bond prices rose in quiet trading, boosted by the continued improvement in the dollar on foreign exchange markets.

The Treasury’s bellwether 30-year bond rose 1/2 point, or $5 for every $1,000 in face amount, with its yield dipping to 8.44% from 8.49% on Friday.

In the secondary market for Treasury bonds, prices of short-term governments rose about 1/16 point, intermediate maturities ranged 1/16 point to 5/16 point higher and long-term issues were up 1/2 point. In the secondary market, yields on three-month Treasury bills were up 9 basis points to 5.63%. Among tax-exempt municipal bonds, general obligations picked up point and revenue bonds were unchanged in light trading.

The federal funds rate, the interest on overnight loans between banks, traded at 6.813%, up from 6.675% on Friday.