Dow Rises Weakly Before Holiday

Stocks tip-toed higher Friday, lifting some indexes further into record territory, as bond prices firmed and trading slowed to a crawl before the long holiday weekend.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose just 0.74 to 5,762.86, finishing the week with a gain of 75.36. The blue-chip barometer, which set new highs Monday and Wednesday, was up nearly 37 points at the start of Friday’s trading before trailing lower.

Broad-market measures were mostly positive, but the Nasdaq market was weighed down by the technology sector. Analysts said there was little motivation for new buying in a pricey market that’s already ridden a wave of encouraging economic reports well into record territory.

“It’s a meaningless day in terms of setting any agenda for where we’re going,” said John Cleland, chief investment strategist at Security Benefit Group in Topeka, Kan. “Everybody’s already on vacation and we’re taking a break.”

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a slim margin on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume totaled a sleepy 329.14 million shares as of 4 p.m., down sharply from Thursday’s 431.32 million.

Although the market’s advance was modest, it was enough to break some records.

The NYSE’s composite index rose 1.31 to 363.74, barely topping Wednesday’s record finish at 363.69. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index rose 2.51 to 678.51, edging Wednesday’s record high at 378.42.

At the American Stock Exchange, the market value index rose 1.27 to 613.95.

The Nasdaq composite index, which on Thursday set a new high, fell 0.77 to 1,247.88 as investors secured some profits on some recent high-flyers. Disk-drive makers Iomega and SyQuest Technologies plunged after a weeklong rally based more on speculation than news. Iomega lost 6 11-16 to 44 9-16, and SyQuest slid 7 to 10-7/8.

Bonds rebounded slightly Friday, with the yield on the 30-year Treasury edging below 6.84 percent.

Stocks slid Thursday as that yield - a benchmark used to determine the interest charged on many corporate and consumer loans - rose to 6.86 percent amid news that Jeffrey Vinik, manager of Fidelity’s mammoth Magellan Fund, had quit.

Vinik had been criticized for a big move into bonds, and many bond traders expect his successor to begin unloading some of the fund’s Treasury holdings.

“The bond market overreacted Thursday, but the positive tone continues,” said Bill Meehan, stock market analyst at Prudential Securities.

Overseas, Tokyo’s Nikkei stock average rose 0.3 percent, Frankfurt’s DAX index fell 0.7 percent, and London’s FT-SE 100 rose 0.1 percent.

In economic news, the Commerce Department reported that orders of durable goods fell 1.9 percent to $166 billion in April, the third drop in four months, as declining aircraft orders offset an increase in cars and trucks.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: THE TICKER A look back at the week past on Wall Street

What’s hot Lucky shareholders of Open Market Corp. more than doubled their money on the first day of public trading, as the stock soared more than 120 percent. But chances are you’re not one of those lucky shareholders. Call it just another example of what’s become a modern-day truism: The average investor is rarely invited to the biggest IPO parties. Still, Open Market, a hotly watched Cambridge, Mass. software company, had what can only be described as a stellar coming out Thursday. When trading began on the Nasdaq market around midday, the stock opened at 40, 22 points higher than its IPO price. In other words: 122 percent, just like that. The stock finished the day at 39-7/8, on volume of 5.3 million shares, making it the single largest stock jump of the day.

What’s not The tobacco companies took a hit Friday, with Philip Morris Companies, and the Brooke Group both down 1/8. Though, all in all, it wasn’t a bad week. After all, there was Thursday’s big run-up on news that a federal appeals court had snuffed out a class-action liability suit on behalf of millions of smokers. The ruling was a major victory in the industry’s quest to avoid billions of dollars in damages. RJR Nabisco Holdings stayed hot, up 1/2 Friday.