Stocks Advance in Late Trading; Dow Rises 11.73
Wall Street’s blue chip index moved to the plus side Tuesday after a big jump in oil prices was cut.
The Dow Jones industrial index, which rose 3.56 Monday, closed up 11.73 at 2,077.70. New York Stock Exchange volume came to 127 million shares, against 120.43 million Monday.
Advancing issues slightly outnumbered declines in nationwide trading of NYSE-listed stocks, with 729 up, 714 down and 528 unchanged.
Stocks had turned in an up-and-down performance during much of the session, but rose in late trading after a $1.40 advance in U.S. oil prices was trimmed to less than $1 when Iran rejected Iraq’s insistence that the two former Gulf War foes have the same daily output quota from OPEC. “The market is trading off crude right now,” one trader said.
“I’m not impressed with this market,” said portfolio strategist Marshall Acuff with Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co. “The market was being led by a narrow group of stocks, principally the oils. For any sustainable move, we would need more support in breadth.”
Stocks were bogged down early on a higher-than-expected 0.4% rise in October consumer prices. Wall Street had expected a 0.3% increase, and the report added to growing fears about higher inflation, analysts said.
Bid for Quick Profits
Still, analysts said traders were showing some tentative interest in big-name stocks, apparently believing that those issues were due for a rebound after the market’s broad decline earlier this month.
Brokers said there also might be buying by people hoping for quick trading profits.
Considerable attention has been devoted to the market’s historical tendency to post at least a small gain over the two sessions before and after Thanksgiving.
Whether this is simply coincidence, Newton Zinder at Shearson Lehman Hutton Inc. did note that stocks have had a net gain over those two sessions in 33 of the past 36 years.
The pattern failed to hold last year, Zinder added, when the Dow fell 53 points as Wall Street was still struggling to regain its bearings after the Oct. 19 crash.
Among Tuesday’s volume leaders, Hospital Corp. of America fell 3 5/8 to 43. The company agreed to a management buyout after apparently failing to attract other bids.
Energy stocks were broadly higher as oil prices rose on reports that members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries might be closer to agreement on new production quotas.
Amoco gained 1 1/4 to 71 3/8; Chevron added 1 to 44 1/2; Atlantic Richfield rose 1 3/8 to 78 1/8; Mobil 3/4 to 42 5/8, and Exxon gained 1/2 to 42 5/8.
Another Record
Elsewhere among blue chips, International Business Machines rose 1 3/8 to 117, American Telephone & Telegraph was up 1/2 to 28 1/2, General Electric gained 1/4 to 44 and General Motors edged up 3/4 to 81 3/8.
The Wilshire index of 5,000 equities closed at 2,632.564, up 7.135.
The NYSE’s composite index of all its common stocks added 0.45 to 150.55.
Standard & Poor’s industrial index rose 1.41 to 307.55; its 500-stock composite index was up 0.99 at 267.21.
The NASDAQ composite index edged up 0.29 to 365.36; the American Stock Exchange index closed at 288.22, up 1.05.
Tokyo share prices closed firmer Tuesday, with the main index at a record close for the eighth straight trading day. “The rise demonstrates the market’s basic strength,” one broker said. “It’s been a very broad, very good day.” The 225-share Nikkei index rose 145.86, or 0.50%, to a record closing 29,430.12.
British stocks peaked in the afternoon when Wall Street stocks firmed but eased off their highs when the Dow turned down again. Trading was subdued before British October balance of payments figures due Friday. The Financial Times 100-share index ended up 10.2 at 1,821.3.
