Airline Takeover Talk Helps Lift Stocks

An energetic dollar and renewed airline takeover talk sent stock prices higher for a second session Tuesday.

The Dow Jones index of 30 industrials rose 17.68 to 2,275.54, bringing it to its highest point since after the St. Patrick’s Day plunge of March 17, when the index fell 48.57 to 2,292.14.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones by about 7 to 5 in nationwide trading of New York Stock Exchange-listed stocks.

Big Board volume came to 146.42 million shares, up from 112.96 million Monday, which was the slowest day of the year.

Stock analysts said the market’s rise did not appear to be broadly based.

“The interest seems to be somewhat limited in two or three groups and a few sectors of industry,” said Thomas R. Walsh, head of stock trading at Nikko Securities Co. International.

The dollar advanced broadly Tuesday in trading in Europe and the United States despite attempts by central banks to restrain it. That gave some strength to the bond market, which in turn led to buying of stock index futures.

Through program trading, the futures buying spilled over into buying of stocks, said Bill Kent, director of investment research at Robert Thomas Securities Inc.

Among individual sectors, transport issues scored large gains after Northwest Airlines parent NWA Inc. surprised the industry by saying a shareholders group is considering buying the carrier in a leveraged buyout. The Dow Jones transportation average jumped 20.38 to 1,032.18.

Texas Air Gains

“The airline move is probably the most significant event in the market today,” said one trader.

NWA jumped 9 5/8 to 70 1/4, while American Airlines’ parent, AMR Corp., rose 2 to 58. Among other NYSE-listed airline stocks, Pan Am rose 3/8 to 4 5/8, Delta rose 1 1/4 to 58 7/8, UAL rose 1 1/2 to 115 1/2 and USAir Group rose 1 7/8 to 41 1/8.

Texas Air rose 1 to 12 3/4 on the American Stock Exchange. Kirk Kerkorian, the Beverly Hills-based investor, and baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth are among those mentioned by sources as possible bidders for Texas Air’s strike-bound Eastern Airlines.

Texaco led the list of most actively traded issues, rising 1/8 to 53 1/8 on volume of more than 4 million shares, including two block trades of more than 1 million shares each. The company declined to comment on the stock activity.

Anheuser Busch rose 1 1/8 to 35 1/2, a 52-week high, on reports that it plans to introduce a dry version of Budweiser. American Telephone & Telegraph was off 1/8 to 31 1/4, and General Electric rose 1/4 to 44 1/4.

Standard & Poor’s industrial index rose 1.29 to 336.02; its 500-stock composite index rose 1.01 to 291.59.

Investors went on a buying spree on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Tuesday, launching a new fiscal year with the fifth-largest one-day advance in the Japanese stock market’s history. The key Nikkei 225-share index shot up by 793.96, or 2.52%, to end trading at 32,306.36. It was the biggest one-day gain since Jan. 6, 1988, when the index jumped up 1,215.22.

Share prices also closed higher on the London Stock Exchange, as trading resumed after a four-day Easter holiday. The Financial Times 100-share index closed up 13.5 at 2,070.5.