Dow Rises 14.59 as Dollar Ends Skid Against Mark : Market Overview

* The dollar ended a sharp decline against the German mark.

* The stock market picked up steam. The Dow Jones average of 30 industrial stocks rose 14.59 points to 3,246.81. Still, with only a slim gain Tuesday, the Dow has recovered less than a fifth of the approximately 100 points it has lost in the last week.

Stocks

Traders attributed the stock gains to activity in individual issues, rather than a sweeping change in market sentiment.

The market remains concerned about interest rates, the weak economy and the presidential race.

New York Stock Exchange volume totaled about 171.86 million shares, against 207.76 million the previous session. Advancing issues outnumbered declines by 10 to 7 on the Big Board.

The market’s main support came from the dollar, which rebounded from historic lows against the mark. The dollar closed at 1.4065 marks in New York, up from the record-low 1.4015 of Tuesday.

The stock market had fallen sharply because of the dollar’s decline, which has been prompted by a wide gap between U.S. and German interest rates. The gap has made foreign bonds more attractive to investors.

Concerns about the weak economy were reinforced Wednesday when the government said orders for durable goods orders from U.S. factories plummeted in July for the second time in three months.

The 3.4% drop was the biggest in six months. Economists had been anticipating a decline of less than 0.5%. Orders had increased 2.8% in June after falling 2.1% in May.

The weak data aided bonds, which in turned helped the stock market.

“You’re not seeing anything that’s telling you we’re jump-starting here,” said Tom Luker, chief equity trader at Nikko Securities International Inc.

Among the day’s highlights:

* Computervision, issued to weak demand last week, fell 1 1/8 to 10 1/4 in heavy trading. The company, spun off from Prime Computer, led the NYSE most-active list, with volume exceeding 5.8 million shares.

* General Motors rose 3/8 to 34 1/8 in heavy trading. Another blue chip, Philip Morris, gained 7/8 to 80 5/8 after announcing it that it will increase its dividend to 65 cents a share from 52.5 cents.

* Telefonos Mexico’s American depositary shares shot up 1 3/4 to 45 3/8, recovering from a selloff in the Mexican stock market.

* Consolidated Natural Gas gained 1/4 to 43 7/8. An offering of an additional 4 million shares of the company’s common stock was priced late Tuesday at $43.50 a share.

* Deere fell 1/2 to 38 on top of a drop Tuesday on weak third-quarter profit.

* Helping the Dow were Eastman Kodak, which gained 1 1/2 to 45 1/8; Caterpillar, up 1 to 47 5/8, and Disney, up 1 to 33 7/8.

* On the NASDAQ market, SciMed Life Systems jumped 6 3/4 to 56 1/2 after an announcement that Eli Lilly, a competitor in catheter manufacturing, had suspended shipment of two products.

* Also in the NASDAQ market, Adobe Systems fell 3 3/4 to 32 1/8 after Morgan Stanley lowered its rating on the computer software maker. Novell rose 3 7/8 to 49 1/2 after reporting a strong quarterly profit.

In overseas trading, London’s 100-share Financial Times index rose 4 points to 2,285. In Frankfurt, the 30-share DAX index climbed 4.37 points to 1,473.28. In Tokyo, the 225-share Nikkei average advanced 160.88 points to 16,541.65.

Credit

Treasury bond prices rose as the dollar rebounded and insurance companies failed to confirm rumors that they would flood the market with bonds to offset claims from Hurricane Andrew.

The price of the Treasury’s main 30-year bond was up 21/32 point, or $6.56 per $1,000 in face amount. Its yield, which falls when prices rise, was 7.41%, down from 7.47% Tuesday.

The federal funds rate, the interest on overnight loans between banks, held steady at 3.3125%.

Currency

The dollar bounced back from record lows against the German mark and against other currencies.

“The dollar is staking a base around 1.4 marks, but we’re still uncertain because that’s near its new low,” said Ziggy Zborowski, a trader at Bank Leumi Trust Co.

The dollar closed at 1.4065 marks in New York, up from Tuesday’s record low close of 1.4015 marks.

It rose to 124.85 Japanese yen from 124.55. The British pound closed at $1.9860, down from $1.9895 Tuesday.

Commodities

Silver futures hit new contract lows on New York’s Commodity Exchange after the government report on durable goods orders in July indicated that the economy remains stagnant.

Heavy overnight selling in London and Tokyo had silver futures spiraling lower at the start of trading, dragging gold futures down.

On other markets, energy was mixed, lumber gained, cotton retreated, grain and soybeans fell, and livestock and pork were mixed.

Silver for delivery in September settled 3.2 cents lower at $3.67 an ounce; October gold was $2.30 lower at $338.30 an ounce.