Stronger Greenback Boosts Stocks

Stocks rallied late in the session Wednesday after largely directionless trading, buoyed by a strong dollar and bond market.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 19.17 to 3,857.65, adding to a 4.04 rise on Tuesday, the first trading day of the year. Most of the gains were made in the final 30 minutes.

Some investors were disappointed at the showing. “The market is very, very directionless,” said First Albany Corp.’s Hugh Johnson. “There’s almost no sense of urgency by investors to either buy or sell stocks.”

One factor working against the market is that stock funds lost an average 1.6 percent in total return in 1994, according to data released Wednesday from Lipper Analytical Services. The poor returns could discourage investors from putting new money into the stock market.

Advancing issues led decliners by about 3 to 2 on the New York Stock Exchange. Big Board volume was moderately heavy at 319.45 million shares, up from 263.05 million in the previous session.

The 30-year bond rose 23-32 point. Its yield, which rises when prices fall, declined to 7.84 percent from 7.91 percent Tuesday. The dollar was higher against the Deutsche mark and the Japanese yen.

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

NYSE

Telefonos de Mexico’s American depositary receipts fell 1/2 to 38-1/8.

Grupo Televisa ADRs fell 1-1/8 to 28-5/8.

Grupo Tribasa ADRs fell 7/8 to 14-1/4.

Empresas ICA ADRs fell 1 to 12-7/8.

Mexican stocks continued to fall as investors reacted negatively to the Mexican government’s economic rescue plan.

Chrysler rose 1-7/8 to 50-7/8.

General Motors rose 1-1/2 to 43-1/4.

Ford Motors rose 3/4 to 28-5/8.

Chrysler Chairman Robert J. Eaton said the carmaker will report record 1994 profits and said the company’s pension fund had become fully funded. Salomon Brothers raised its estimates of Chrysler’s and GM’s fourth-quarter profits and said auto stocks could rally in the first quarter.

NASDAQ

Dell Computer rose 2-3/8 to 42-1/4.

The company completed conversion of its OptiPlex product line to Intel Corp.’s updated Pentium chip, which corrects the earlier chip’s division flaw.

AMEX

Royal Oak Mines fell 1/8 to 3.

Echo Bay fell 1/2 to 9-5/8.

Pegasus Gold fell 1/8 to 10-5/8.

Gold mining stocks fell with the price of gold.