Dow Rockets 40.84 to Close at Record High

Stocks shot to a record close today after a dollar rally inspired new buying by institutions at the start of a new fiscal quarter.

The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 40.84 points to 2,754.56.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a margin of about 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, with 995 up, 511 down and 468 unchanged.

Big Board volume totaled a heavy 182.55 million shares, against 127.41 million in the previous session.

The NYSE’s composite index rose 1.94 to 196.84.

A strong dollar, despite central bank intervention, encouraged investors to buy stocks and bonds.

The previous record close was the Sept. 1 finish of 2,752.09. Stocks then fell in a month-long correction, but recovered this month, starting with Monday’s 20-point gain.

The stocks of financial service and other consumer-oriented businesses were among the standouts in today’s session, while some technology issues were among the losers.

Analysts said traders were looking for issues with predictable growth.

Bond Prices Gain

Bond prices rose in early trading today, strengthened largely by what brokers called optimism about lower interest rates and internal market influences that temporarily created more demand than supply.

The Treasury’s benchmark 30-year bond rose about 11/32 point or roughly $3.40 per $1,000 in face amount. Its yield, which rises when prices fall, eased to 8.18% from 8.21% late Monday.

In the secondary market for Treasury bonds, prices of short-term governments rose 1/4 to 3/16 point, intermediate maturities rose about 1/4 point and long-term issues rose about 1/4 to 1/2 point, the Telerate Inc. financial information service reported.

The movement of a point equals a change of $10 in the price of a bond with a $1,000 face value.

The Shearson Lehman Hutton daily Treasury bond index, which measures price movements on all outstanding Treasury issues with maturities of a year or longer, rose 2.68 to 1,173.29.

Moody’s investment grade corporate bond index, which measures total return on a portfolio of 80 corporate bonds with maturities of five years or longer, rose 0.34 to 329.97.

Yields on three-month Treasury bills fell to 8.03% as the discount fell 9 basis points from the level at auction Monday to 7.77%. Yields on six-month bills fell to 8.28% as the discount fell 4 basis points from the level at auction Monday to 7.85%. Yields on one-year bills fell to 8.39% as the discount fell 7 basis points to 7.80%.