Late Buying Rescues Market From Big Dip
NEW YORK, Aug. 2ÛÓLate blue-chip buying rescued the stock market averages from serious declines but prices still closed lower in sluggish trading today on the New York Stock Exchange.</br></br>The Dow .Jones industrial average, close to 6 points lower much of the day. finished 2.04 lower at .910.14, following a 14.22-point tumble Wednesday. Standard & PoorÛªs 500-stock index lost 0.16 to 106.67, the NYSE index fell 0.06 to 56.84 and the average price of a NYSE common share slipped 4 cents.</br></br>DeclinesÛÏoutnumbered advances by 880 to 546 among the 1,785 issues traded. Turnover slowed to 12.08 million shares from 13.53 million Wednesday.</br></br>The Amex price-change index was down .01 at 23.33. Losers outnumbered gainers by 419 to 294 as volume totaled 1.74 million shares compared with 2.17 million Wednesday.</br></br>Four hundred four issues advanced and 698 declined among the . 3,041 stocks changing hands. Volume totaled 5.23 million shares, down from 5.4 million Wednesday.