Seesaw Market Closes Higher; Dow Up 2.76

NEW YORK —  The stock market managed another small gain Wednesday, continuing the slow-motion rally it began early last week.

The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials, after bouncing back and forth in a narrow range all day, closed with a 2.76 advance at 1,272.31. The average has risen for seven consecutive sessions, but its net gain over that span has been just 19.33 points.

Volume on the New York Stock Exchange came to 96.02 million shares, against 98.48 million Tuesday.

The market has been moving ahead slowly but persistently in recent days, aided by falling interest rates.

Nonetheless, analysts say investors remain in a cautious mood about the economic outlook.

The Commerce Department reported Wednesday morning that personal income rose 0.5%, while consumption spending dropped 0.5%. Those figures were taken as evidence that the economy is growing more slowly now than it did in the early stages of the expansion dating back to late 1982.

The same agency is scheduled to issue its preliminary figure today for the growth of the gross national product in the first three months of the year.

Wall Streeters will be watching closely to see whether the figure is revised upward from the “flash” estimate, reported late last month, of an annual rate of 2.1%, adjusted for inflation.

RCA climbed 5/8 to 42 in active trading. A Wall Street Journal article discussed the company as a possible takeover candidate.

At the same time, CBS fell 6 1/8 to 119 3/4 as some traders developed second thoughts about speculation that Ted Turner, chief executive of Turner Broadcasting, would make a bid for the company.

Unocal led the NYSE active list and lost 1 3/8 to 46 5/8. Seeking to thwart a takeover bid led by T. Boone Pickens, chairman of Mesa Petroleum, Unocal has offered to exchange debt securities for its remaining shares should Pickens’ group succeed in obtaining a majority interest.

The Limited Inc. fell 1 3/4 to 37 1/8. The company reported inventory problems at its recently acquired Lerner Stores subsidiary and said $100 million in Lerner orders from 100 suppliers had been canceled.

American Telephone & Telegraph slipped 1/8 to 20 7/8. The company reported first-quarter earnings of 31 cents a share, against 20 cents in the comparable period last year. Chairman Charles L. Brown said the results were “about what we expected.”

In the daily tally on the Big Board, advancing issues outnumbered declines by about four to three.

Large blocks of 10,000 or more shares traded on the NYSE totaled 1,895, compared to 1,986 on Tuesday.

The federal funds rate, the interest on overnight loans between banks, traded at 7.75%, down from 8.25% late Tuesday.

Bond prices finished mostly lower.

In the secondary market for Treasury bonds, prices of short-term governments were mixed, with some up 1/8 point and others off as much as 5/32 point. Intermediate maturities were off as 10/32 point and long-term issues were off 1/2 point, according to the investment firm of Salomon Bros.