Dow Ekes Out 0.50 Gain on Light Day

Stock prices rose today in light trading, boosted by moderating oil prices amid signs that the Mideast crisis may be easing.

The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials rose a slight 0.50 point to 2,748.27.

Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones by nearly 3 to 2 on the New York Stock Exchange, with 885 up, 628 down and 476 unchanged.

Big Board volume totaled 135.21 million shares, against 130.32 million in the previous session.

The NYSE’s composite index rose 0.44 to 186.54.

At the American Stock Exchange, the market value index rose 0.70 to 340.64.

Analysts said the market was reacting favorably to the visit by Jordan’s King Hussein to the United States. Hussein was carrying a letter from Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to President Bush.

Stocks received an additional boost as oil prices declined. Government bond prices rose, also helping the stock market.

“It’s been playing tag all day with bond prices and oil prices,” said Walter Murphy, a senior market specialist at Merrill Lynch & Co.

He said the market’s initial price spurt, in which the Dow Jones industrial average rose as much as 21 points in the first half hour, was based on expectations that some breakthrough was imminent in the Mideast. When that did not materialize, prices moved lower.

The Treasury’s benchmark 30-year bond was up 1/16 point, or 63 cents per $1,000 in face amount, at midday. Its yield, which falls when prices rise, slipped to 8.76% from 8.77% late Tuesday.

In the secondary market for Treasury bonds, prices of short-term governments were up 1/32 point, intermediate maturities rose by about 3/32 point and long-term issues were up as much as 3/32 point, according to Telerate Inc., a financial information service.

The movement of a point is equivalent to 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, was up 0.79 at 1,154.36.

The yield on three-month Treasury bills was unchanged at 7.68% as the discount held at 7.44%. Yields on six-month bills rose to 7.72% as the discount rose 2 basis points to 7.34%. Yields on one-year bills held at 7.68% as the discount was unchanged at 7.18%.

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, which is paid at maturity.

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