Kmart Stock Takes 15 Percent Dive

Kmart Corp. stock tumbled 15 percent to its lowest level in more than a decade in heavy trading Friday as rumors resurfaced that the discount retailer was considering bankruptcy court protection.

Kmart again denied the rumors.

“It’s not anything we’ve done. It’s not anything we’re planning on doing,” said spokeswoman Mary Lorencz.

Kmart’s stock fell $1.12-1/2 to close at $6.37-1/2 on the New York Stock Exchange. That was its lowest level since Aug. 19, 1982. Trading volume was more than 24 million shares, more than four times its average for a single day.

Analysts said Kmart was the victim of uncertainty and nervousness on Wall Street over its financial liquidity and prospects for recovery after 11 straight quarters of disappointing earnings or losses.

Problems making investors impatient are sluggish holiday sales, the threat of a possible downgrade in Kmart’s credit rating and the tightening of the company’s credit terms in the renegotiation of real-estate debt.