Stocks Post Modest 10.67 Advance As Investors Await Trade Figures
NEW YORK -- The stock market gradually overcame some early weakness to post a modest advance as participants awaited the July trade report.</br></br>The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which dropped about 10 points in the first half-hour of trading and then drifted at slightly lower levels for most of the session, closed with a gain of 10.67 at 2083.04.</br></br>Heavy trading in selected issues, along with the return of many participants who were absent Monday to celebrate the Jewish New Year, made for the busiest session in nearly a month on the New York Stock Exchange. About 162.5 million shares changed hands in Big Board trading, up from 114.9 million Monday.</br></br>Broader market averages lagged behind the Dow Jones industrials, although not as badly as they did Monday. Standard & Poor's 500-stock index rose 0.96 to 267.43, and the New York Stock Exchange composite index went up 0.52 to 151.15.</br></br>Advancing and declining issues were about even on the Big Board, but the market's gains near the close allowed advancers to carry the day. There were 785 New York Stock Exchange issues rising in price, while 601 fell.