Technology Stocks Boost Dow 9.68 Points
Wall Street stocks closed higher today as strength in technology stocks countered the impact of a fall in the dollar to a new low against the Japanese yen.</br></br>The Dow Jones industrial average ended with a gain of 9.68 points at 3989.61. It finished the week down 22.13 points.</br></br>In the broader market, declining issues outnumbered advancing stocks by 11 to 9 on active trading of more than 330 million shares on the New York Stock Exchange. The Nasdaq composite index, a barometer of technology stocks, rose 5.11 points to 798.79, as it approached its record-closing high of 803.93, set on March 18, 1994.</br></br>But the big news of the day was the dollar, which sank to a record low against the Japanese yen despite buying of dollars by the Federal Reserve, Japan and European nations.</br></br>The dollar's weakness, which was viewed as a potential source of inflation, spooked the Treasury bond market, where the benchmark 30-year bond fell 5/8 point or about $6.25 per $1,000 in face amount. Its yield increased to 7.53 percent from 7.48 percent late Thursday.