Market Mixed as Dow Loses 4.74 to End Rally

NEW YORK —  Stock prices closed mixed Wednesday, bogging down in spots after the market’s rise to record levels in Tuesday’s session.

Selling was concentrated mainly in blue-chip issues. Some broad measures of market trends forged ahead to new highs.

The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials, up 14.79 on Tuesday, dropped back 4.74 points to 1,287.88. But gainers outpaced losers by about three to two on the New York Stock Exchange.

Big Board volume totaled 170.02 million shares, the seventh-largest total on record, up from 115.73 million Tuesday,

The Big Board has had a run of 18 consecutive sessions in which gainers outnumbered losers--a streak longer than any in modern market history.

From Jan. 4 through Tuesday, the Dow Jones industrial average soared more than 107 points.

Tuesday’s close of 1,292.62 topped the previous peak of 1,287.20 reached Nov. 29, 1983.

Analysts acknowledged that no market move continues indefinitely and that prices were bound to reach the point sooner or later where a majority of traders would want to cash in some of their profits.

But they also said that the market’s rise lately has created an appetite for stocks that might not yet be satisfied.

Accompanying the market’s upsurge this month has been a spreading belief that the economy will continue growing in 1985 without a revival of inflation.

It has also had some help from falling interest rates. Rates rose slightly, however, in the credit markets Wednesday.

Losers among the blue chips included General Electric, down 1 at 63 7/8; Eastman Kodak, down 1 at 73 1/2; International Paper, down 1 at 54, and International Business Machines, off 3/8 at 136 5/8.

Bethlehem Steel fell 1 3/4 to 18. The company posted a loss for the last quarter of 1984, said it expected another loss in the first quarter of this year and cut its quarterly dividend from 15 cents to 10 cents a share.

Xerox, which reported lower fourth-quarter earnings from continuing operations, dropped 1 to 42 3/8.

Parker Pen lost 1 1/2 to 15 3/4. The company said its earnings for the fiscal year that ends Feb. 28 would come in substantially below Wall Street estimates, and it also announced the resignation of its president.

In the plus column, Alleghany Corp. jumped 7 to 86. A group of railroad unions agreed to support Alleghany as a prospective buyer of Consolidated Rail Corp. from the government.

The Big Board’s composite index of all its listed common stocks rose 0.22 to a new high of 103.65.

S&P; Index Hits New High

Nationwide turnover in NYSE-listed issues, including trades in those stocks on regional exchanges and in the over-the-counter market, totaled 197.48 million shares.

Standard & Poor’s index of 400 industrials gained 0.22 to 200.75, and S&P;’s 500-stock composite index was up 0.21 at 179.39, also a new high.

The NASDAQ composite index for the over-the-counter market added 2.41 to 278.58.

At the American Stock Exchange, the market-value index closed at 224.40, up 1.04.

The Wilshire index of 5,000 equities closed at 1,843.562, up 5.232.

Large blocks of 10,000 or more shares traded on the NYSE totaled 3,344, compared to 2,287 on Wednesday.

Bond prices fell as short-term interest rates rose in the credit markets.

One closely followed rate--that charged on federal funds, or overnight loans between banks--rose to 8.675% from 8.25% late Tuesday.

In the secondary market for Treasury bonds, prices of short-term governments fell 4/32 point, intermediate maturities lost 6/32 point and long-term issues were down 12/32 point, according to the investment firm of Salomon Bros. Inc.

The movement of a full point is equivalent to a change of $10 in the price of a bond with a $1,000 face value.

In corporate trading, industrials and utilities dropped point in light trading.

Among tax-exempt municipal bonds, general obligations fell 1/2 point and revenue bonds were off point. Trading also was light in the municipal market.

Yields on three-month Treasury bills, meanwhile, rose 6 basis points to 7.85%. Six-month bills climbed 6 basis points to 8.04%, and one-year bills were up 5 basis points at 8.29%.

A basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point.

Yields on 30-year Treasury bonds edged up to 11.15% from 11.11% late Tuesday.