Modest Advance Buoys Industrials By 4.53 Points As Trading Slackens
Investors stirred long enough to push the stock market into a narrow advance, and then resumed their early autumn nap.</br></br>In the morning, a drop in the interest rate on federal funds, which are interbank loans, gave a boost to the bond market, which in turn nudged the stock market ahead. The funds' rate during the morning stock trading averaged 10 1/2% to 10 5/8%, down from 10.91% Wednesday.</br></br>But for the rest of the day, the market sank back into ennui. Investors hadn't any greater commitment to buy stocks yesterday than they had to sell them during the previous four declining sessions. "I guess I'm like the rest of the market," said the manager of one large portfolio. "I'm not doing much of anything."</br></br>The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 4.53 points higher at 1187.39, which was nearly 3 points below its best level for the day. Volume dropped to 76,700,000 shares from 92,400,000 Wednesday, partly because there were fewer giant trades. Both the transportation and utility indicators showed small advances. On the New York Stock Exchange, rising issues outnumbered decliners 786-to-690.</br></br>Those institutions that have been participating in the market seem to be rotating their holdings to higher value equities, and handpicking select issues. "If we see anything we like on an individual basis, we are buying it," says James F. Jollay, senior vice president of Capitoline Investment Services, Richmond, Va. But Mr. Jollay, whose firm handles $3 billion in assets, says he is "not playing the market at all."