New York, July 8: Bluechips stocks rallied, pushing the leading index close to a record high on Wednesday on selective purchases in the wake of strong performances of markets in Tokyo and Hong Kong.The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 89.93 points, or 0.99 per cent, to 9,174.97. The record high, set May 13, stands at 9,211.84.
Some 609 million shares changed hands, with gainers outnumbering decliners by a margin of 1,738 to 1,215 with 557 issues unchanged.
On the bond market, profit-taking pushed the average yield on the bellwether 30-year Treasury bond up to 5.619 per cent against 5.599 per cent late Tuesday.
Stock traders were somewhat cautious ahead of the release of many US corporations' quarterly earnings starting next week.
Among the gainers, Citicorp soared 11-13/16 to 171-7/8 and Travelers jumped 4-3/4 to 69-5/16 after Merrill Lynch raised their ratings, anticipating that they will complete their merger this month.
Motorola fell 2-11/16 to 52-3/16 after reporting earnings per share ofone cent late Tuesday, down from analyst expectations of two cents per share.
The company said it was clobbered by the Asian crisis, whose `negative impact on our business is likely to continue for at least the remainder of the year,'' according to Motorola chief executive Christopher Galvin.
Among the other gainers, General Motors rose 3-1/4 to 73-1/16, BankAmerica 3-1/16 to 97-13/16 and Xerox 2-9/16 to 108-5/16.
Airline issues dropped on profit-taking, with Delta Air Lines falling 1-3/16 to133-15/16 and US Air 9/16 to 80-7/8.
Philip Morris ended the day down 1-5/16 at 38-1/4 and RJR Nabisco off 1-3/16 at22-3/4.
Two other indexes set new records. Standard and Poor's 500 index rose 11.71 points, or 1.01 per cent, to 1,166.37, while the Nasdaq composite index jumped 27.28 points, or 1.43 per cent, to 1,935.39.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
