Stocks Post Modest Gain After Late Buying Spree

Stock prices chalked up a moderate gain Friday after a final-hour flurry of buying, but analysts said it was clear that individual investors and institutions were paying little attention to the stock market.

The Dow Jones industrial index of 30 industrials rose 15.83 to 2,129.45, finishing the week with a net gain of 23.30.

Advancing issues outnumbered declines by about 5 to 4 in nationwide trading of New York Stock Exchange-listed stocks.

Big Board volume totaled 199.71 million shares, up from 172.41 million Thursday. The market registered a slight favorable response to the Commerce Department report that the merchandise trade deficit in May stood at $10.9 billion, a bit below most advance estimates.

However, analysts also noted that the deficit figure for April was revised upward to $10.3 billion from $9.9 billion.

‘Calm Market’

“Everything considered, it’s been a very calm market showing no hyperactivity in the week and only limited interest,” said Stephen Lieber, chairman of Lieber Co.’s Evergreen Funds. “Retail investors are not back and institutions are back intermittently.”

Stocks staged a final-hour rally as the dollar shot higher, boosted by the trade deficit report.

International Business Machines gained 3/4 to 125 1/2. IBM reported that its second-quarter earnings were down 18.1%, but would have increased 12.7% if not for the expense of a consolidation plan.

Exxon rose 1 to 46 5/8; American Telephone & Telegraph gained 3/8 to 26 5/8; General Motors edged up 1 1/8 to 79 1/2; General Electric added 1/2 to 43 3/4, and Alcoa rose 1 5/8 to 54 5/8.

Interco jumped 5 1/2 to 54 3/8. Harvey Saligman, the company’s chief executive, said he plans to recommend a major restructuring.

Catalyst Energy rose 5/8 to 9 3/4. In a bidding contest for the company, Karibu Corp. raised its offer from $10.50 a share to $10.90.

Prices Dip Elsewhere

Rollins Environmental fell 1 to 18. The company reported that earnings for the quarter ended June 30 rose to 20 cents a share from 16 cents a year ago, but the figure evidently fell short of investors’ expectations.

Church’s Fried Chicken, which cut its quarterly dividend from 11.5 cents a share to 5 cents a share, dropped 3/8 to 6.

The NYSE’s composite index of all its listed common stocks gained 0.89 to 153.65.

Standard & Poor’s industrial index rose 2.21 to 314.38, and S&P;’s 500-stock composite index was up 1.79 at 272.05.

The NASDAQ composite index slipped 0.08 to 394.59; the American Stock Exchange index closed at 309.31, up 1.17.

In Tokyo, share prices closed down Friday after a day of wide fluctuations as investors were unable to shrug off concerns ahead of the May U.S. trade figures.

The Nikkei 225-share index fell 170.29 to 27,913.79.

Prices also finished lower on London’s Stock Exchange. The Financial Times 100-share index finished the session off 1.8 at 1,861.5.