STOCKS : Market Drifts Lower in Dull Day; Dow Off 7

Stock prices posted some spotty losses Wednesday after the market ran into an afternoon flurry of selling in moderate trading.

The Dow Jones index of 30 industrials, up more than 8 points at mid-morning, closed with a 7.21-point loss at 2,669.59.

In the broader market, declining issues held a slight edge on advances in nationwide trading of New York Stock Exchange-listed stocks, with 740 up, 762 down and 482 unchanged.

Big Board volume totaled 163.58 million shares, up from 143.64 mil lion Tuesday.

Analysts said hopes persisted that the economy could keep growing at a sluggish pace, avoiding the recession that many feared might have taken hold by now.

There are some expectations that that view will be bolstered on Friday with the government’s monthly report on the employment situation, which will provide one of the first gauges of economic activity in February.

The data is expected to show an increase of perhaps 250,000 in nonfarm payroll employment, compared to a 275,000 gain in January.

Stocks got a boost Tuesday from a downturn in open-market interest rates. By contrast, in Wednesday’s trading in the market for U.S. Treasury securities, rates showed a modest increase.

MGM-UA Communications jumped 3 3/4 to 17 3/4 on word of a $20-a-share takeover offer from Pathe Communications. Pathe shares gained 1/2 to 4 3/4.

Compaq Computer rose 3 5/8 to 92 1/4 and Businessland was up 2 at 10 3/4. Compaq gave Businessland the right to sell its products in the United States, renewing a business connection severed more than a year ago.

Losers among the blue chip industrials included Exxon, down 5/8 at 46 1/2; International Business Machines, down 1/4 at 105 1/2, and General Motors, down 3/4 at 45 1/4.

In London, share prices finished higher, helped by the strength of the dollar and several healthy earnings reports. The Financial Times 100-share index rose 14.3 points to close at 2,230.3.

CREDIT Bonds Fall Slightly as Dollar Falters In the credit markets, bond prices declined as the rally in the dollar stalled.

The Treasury’s closely watched 30-year bond slipped 1/8 point, or $1.25 for every $1,000 in face value. Its yield, which rises when the price falls, edged up to 8.58% from 8.57% late Tuesday.

Analysts said bond prices were supported early in the day by the continued strength of the dollar, which rose sharply in European trading.

A strong dollar tends to boost prices of dollar-denominated securities such as bonds and notes as they become more attractive to buyers.

Bonds later lost that support, however, as the dollar struggled against a concerted effort by central banks to push the U.S. currency downward. Bond prices also were weakened, analysts said, by a published report in Tokyo saying that members of the Group of Seven industrial nations had agreed to intervene jointly to try to stop the dollar’s climb.

The federal funds rate, the interest rate banks charge each other on overnight loans, was quoted late in the day at 8.375%, up from 8.313% early Wednesday. Tuesday’s late rate was unavailable.

COMMODITIES Orange Juice Up on New Supply Guess Futures prices for frozen concentrated orange juice climbed in New York on speculation that the U.S. Department of Agriculture would revise downward its estimate of Florida’s orange crop.

In other futures markets, pork bellies rose the daily limit and energy and grains were mixed.

The USDA had earlier estimated that 68 million boxes of oranges would be harvested, but apparently came up 3 million short, said analyst Judith Ganes of Shearson Lehman Hutton Inc. A revised report is due out Friday.

On Wednesday, frozen orange juice settled 0.40 cent to 2.15 cents higher, with the contract for delivery in March at $1.91 a pound.

Futures prices have gone up about 80 cents since December’s freeze, peaking at more than $2 a pound in mid-January.