Market Posts Modest Gain: Merger Involvement
NEW YORK, Aug. 15ÛÓMergers, merger talks and takeover rumors dominated trading today as the stock market squeezed through to a small over-all gain and broke a string of three straight losses.</br></br>Advancing stocks held a slim' lead over declines, but the Dow Jones industrial average managed to withstand late profit-taking to finish with a gain of 2.83 points at 919.15.</br></br>Standard and PoorÛªs 500-stock composite was ahead 0.13 point to 94.77 and the New York Stock Exchange index rose 0.06 point to 52.56.</br></br>After three days on the downside, gainers finished with a 613 to 605 lead over losers. On Monday, the count was 394 up and 843 down. New highs edged ahead to 45 from 34 and new lows slipped to 15 from 17.</br></br>Four of the 15 most active issues of the day were directly involved in mergers or intended combines. Allis-Chalmers topped the list for the third straight day and jumped 1% points to 41% after Ling-Tem-co-Vought boosted its bid for the company and offered to take all shares instead of just a controlling interest. The new offer is pegged between $55 and $65 a share. A month ago, Allis was trading at 26.