Dow Turns Upward, Gains 24.26 Points : Wall St.: Bargain hunters and President Bush’s Mideast comments snap four days of losses.

The stock market made a comeback after four days of losses today as bargain hunters snapped up issues that had been pushed to attractively low prices during Wall Street’s recent weak spell.

The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials rose 24.26 to 2,734.90.

Advancing issues outnumbered declines by better than 5 to 3 on the New York Stock Exchange, with about 1,010 up and 595 down. Full figures were not available.

Big Board volume eased to 190.40 million shares from 231.58 million in the previous session.

The NYSE’s composite index rose 1.95 to 185.40.

At the American Stock Exchange, the market value index closed at 340.03, up 0.19.

A retreat in oil prices and strength in the bond market this morning contributed to an improved attitude toward stocks.

Stock prices were also bolstered by President Bush’s comments on U.S. troop movements to Saudi Arabia to prevent any Iraqi invasion.

The perception that tensions in the Middle East might be diffused without prolonged difficulty also helped restore investor confidence and encouraged renewed buying.

“A lot of stocks looked like real bargains,” said Hugh Johnson, investment strategist at First Albany Corp. “There were plenty of stocks that were either dirt cheap or, at a minimum, undervalued.”

But some buying enthusiasm was subdued by concerns that the financial markets remain vulnerable to shocks from developments in the Middle East.

The slide in petroleum prices caused a selloff in oil and related stocks. The contract for September delivery of West Texas Intermediate, the benchmark grade of U.S. crude oil, pulled back by $2.35 to $25.96 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Analysts took comfort from the stock market’s ability to maintain its advance today despite an afternoon downturn in bonds and a jump in interest rates.

Bond prices were mixed today, reacting to what brokers called a fresh blanket of uncertainty surrounding the rapid developments in key oil-producing areas of the Middle East.

The Treasury’s bellwether 30-year bond, which fell nearly $6 per $1,000 in face amount Tuesday in choppy trading, partly recouped by midday with a gain of $2.50.

Its yield, which falls when the price rises, eased to 8.84% from 8.86% late Tuesday. But prices of shorter-term issues fell.

In the secondary market for Treasury bonds, prices of short-term governments fell 1/16 to 1/8 point, intermediate maturities fell 3/32 point and long-term issues were up about 1/4 point, the Telerate Inc., financial information service said.

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 Brothers daily Treasury bond index, which measures price movements on all outstanding Treasury issues with maturities of a year or longer, fell 2.22 to 1,148.88.

Yields on three-month Treasury bills rose to 7.61% as the discount rose 9 basis points to 7.38%. Yields on six-month bills rose to 7.67% as the discount rose 3 basis points to 7.30%. Yields on one-year bills rose to 7.73% as the discount rose 4 basis points to 7.22%.

A basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point. The yield is the annualized return on an investment in a Treasury bill. The discount is the percentage that bills are selling below the face value, paid at maturity.

The federal funds rate, the interest rate banks charge each other on overnight loans, was quoted at 8 1/16%, up from 8% late Tuesday.