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Dow Posts Its Highest Close Since March 5

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From Times Staff and Wire Reports

Stocks ended mixed Thursday as oil prices pulled back and the dollar stabilized.

Although moves in key market indexes were modest, the trend remained bullish: The Dow Jones industrial average rose for the fifth time in six sessions, adding 22.98 points, or 0.2%, to 10,572.55.

It was the Dow’s highest close since March 5.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index edged up 1.61 points, or 0.1%, to 1,183.55, nearing the three-year high of 1,184.17 reached Friday.

The Nasdaq composite index gained 4.60 points, or 0.2%, to 2,104.28, highest since Jan. 27.

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Winners and losers were about evenly matched on the New York Stock Exchange. Losers had a slight edge on Nasdaq.

Oil resumed its recent decline, helping to bolster sentiment on Wall Street, analysts said. Near-term crude futures in New York slid 62 cents to $46.22 a barrel after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said it expected demand for its oil to average 28.2 million barrels a day in the fourth quarter and first quarter.

That would be 2 million barrels a day less than what the group pumped in October. The numbers suggested that a surplus of oil could develop this winter, which would be rare for the season.

“Fear of oil causing a recession” is evaporating, Harry Flavin, who helps manage $1.5 billion as president of Austin, Calvert & Flavin in San Antonio, told Bloomberg News.

The OPEC news lessened the sting from the Conference Board’s latest report on its index of leading economic indicators. The index fell in October for a fifth straight month.

In other trading, bond yields were little changed. The 10-year Treasury note ended at 4.11%, down from 4.13% on Wednesday and the lowest since Nov. 4.

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The dollar edged up after diving Wednesday, when Treasury Secretary John W. Snow signaled that the Bush administration would not intervene to stop the buck’s slide.

The dollar ended at 104.09 yen in New York, up from 104.06 Wednesday. The euro, at $1.297, was down from a record $1.304.

Some traders may have pared bearish dollar bets before this weekend’s meeting in Berlin of finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20, the world’s largest economies. Exchange rates are expected to be a key point of discussion.

Among Thursday’s market highlights:

* Kmart Holding pulled back after soaring on Wednesday, when the company announced that it would acquire Sears. Kmart fell $5.29 to $103.71. Sears continued to climb, up 81 cents to $53.80.

* Many semiconductor stocks rose after Intel’s chief executive, Craig Barrett, told reporters in India that he expected the company’s performance in the first half of 2005 to be “much improved” from the first half of 2004.

An Intel spokesman later said Barrett was referring to operating performance, not financial performance. Nonetheless, the stock gained 48 cents to $24.80.

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* PortalPlayer, which makes chips for Apple Computer’s iPod music player, priced its initial public offering, selling 6.25 million shares at $17 each. That was above expectations. The stock will begin trading today under the symbol PLAY on Nasdaq.

* Also in the tech sector, chip equipment maker Applied Materials edged up 31 cents to $17.65 after falling as low as $16.50. The company said late Wednesday that it expected orders this quarter to drop 35% from the previous quarter.

* Google lost $4.96 to $167.54. The company reiterated a warning it issued Monday that its sales growth rate would continue to decline, in part because of rising competition.

* Altria Group jumped $1.28 to $58.70, and Reynolds American surged $2.19 to $77.80. The cigarette companies asked a federal appeals court to block the government from using an organized-crime statute in pursuing $280 billion in claims in a civil trial now underway.

* A new exchange-traded fund designed to track gold bullion began trading on the NYSE under the ticker symbol GLD. The fund, called StreetTracks Gold, ended the day at $44.38. One share represents one-tenth of an ounce of gold.

Near-term gold futures in New York ended at $442.60 an ounce, down $2.20 from the 16-year high reached Wednesday.

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