Stocks Advance In Choppy Session

The stock market emerged from a choppy session mostly higher, as investors eased up their selling of technology issues but kept buying economically sensitive names.

The Dow Jones industrial average flopped back and forth between the positive and negative camps before finishing with a gain of 6.57 at 4,411.19, posting a record closing high for the fourth consecutive session.

Advancing issues volleyed with decliners all day before finishing ahead by 1,146 to 1,128 on the New York Stock Exchange. Big Board Volume was moderate at 339.86 million shares as of 4 p.m., down from 371.63 million on Wednesday.

Early in the day, investors sold technology stocks, which have had an impressive run over the last several sessions, and exchanged them for deep cyclical issues, whose fortunes react sharply to changes in economic outlook.

But the technology selling abated in the afternoon. Meanwhile, the runup of cyclical names, which had been beaten up for some time, continued.

Some of the stocks that moved substantially or traded heavily Thursday:

NYSE

Ford fell 7/8 to 27 1/2.

General Motors fell 7/8 to 45 1/8.

Chrysler fell 7/8 to 43 3/4.

Auto issues finished lower after surging early in the session, following threats by the United States to impose trade sanctions and pursue an unfair-trading case at the World Trade Organization against Japan.

DuPont rose 7/8 to 69.

Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock to “outperform” from “neutral.”

Hilton Hotels fell 6 3/4 to 71.

The company plans to spin off its gambling holdings to the public and said discussions to sell the entire company may continue.

Sara Lee rose 3/4 to 27 1/2.

Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities upgraded the stock to “outperform” from “market perform.”

NASDAQ

MCI rose 3-16 to 20 3/4.

MCI will invest up to $2 billion in the Australian News Corp. over the next four years, creating a huge worldwide communications and entertainment conglomerate.

Microsoft rose 2 1/8 to 81 3/8.

IBM said its personal computers will also run Microsoft’s Windows 95. IBM was up 1/8 at 94 on the Big Board.

AMEX

Hasbro rose 7/8 to 32 1/2.

On Wednesday, BT Securities began coverage of the stock with a rating of “outperform,” along with several other toy makers.