NEW YORK, May 5: The Dow Industrials reached a new high after flirting with 9,200 on Monday as the stock market extended a recovery from a bout of interest rate jitters. The Dow Jones Industrial Average at one point was up 114.84 at 9,261.91, but gave ground at the end of the day in heavy trading. It finished with a gain of 45.59 or 0.5 per cent at 9,192.66, surpassing the April 21 record close of 9,184.94.Broader indicators also rose in a third straight session with big gains. US stocks had stumbled last week on concerns that the Federal Reserve would try to prevent the economy from overheating by pushing up interest rates.
However, economic reports on Thursday and Friday re-inforced a key point of the economy's extended growth streak -- that inflation remains under control despite sound growth.
No major reports were due this week until Wednesday, with Friday's reading on April payroll and wage levels -- two key forces behind inflation looming as the most critical.
Union Carbide led the Dow'sadvance after a British newspaper reported that the chemical maker had spurned a merger bid by British petroleum. Advancing shares out numbered decliners by a small margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,570 up, 1,456 down and 485 unchanged.
NYSE volume totaled 550.66 million shares.
The Standard and Poor's 500 rose 1.07 to 1,122.07, and the NYSE composite index rose 0.82 to 582.73.
The Nasdaq composite index rose 3.76 to 1,877.20. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 0.52 to 485.26, while the American stock exchange composite index fell 1.06 to 748.80.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
