Dow Zigzags Through Session, Ends Down 2.31

NEW YORK —  The stock market seesawed in a tight range Monday but still managed to hold most of its ground as investors waited on the sidelines for the U.S. April trade deficit figures due out today.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 2.31 points to close at 2,099.40.

Advancing issues outnumbered declines by about 10 to 9 in nationwide trading of New York Stock Exchange-listed stocks.

Volume on the NYSE came to 125.31 million shares, down from 155.71 million in the previous session, in the third-slowest trading day of the year. Nationwide, consolidated volume in NYSE-listed issues, including trading at regional exchanges and on the over-the-counter market, totaled 151.717 million shares.

Monday’s volume was even more sluggish if one excludes the 9.95 million shares traded in one stock, McDermott International, by investors seeking to capture the dividend.

The Dow started off the week about 8 points shy of its post-crash high, and traders began the session by cashing in on the previous week’s gains. The Dow fell about 10 points before turning upward and continuing its flirtation with the 2,100 mark.

But “this general level has presented some pretty stiff resistance for the market,” noted Hugh Johnson, a senior vice president at First Albany Corp.

“It’s pretty clear we will need a catalyst . . . (such as) some news that gets us over the hump,” he added.

Today’s report on merchandise trade figures for April is probably not enough to single-handedly boost the Dow beyond the 2,100-point level, analysts said. But the trade report is only the first in a flurry of economic indicators due to be released this week.

“There is a feeling of optimism . . . that the numbers will paint a picture that the economy is slowing from the breakneck inflationary pace of the first three months, and that’s what the market needs,” Johnson said.

Despite the dullness of the day’s trading, “the most revealing thing about this market is that . . . we can’t drive it down,” said Gene Jay Seagle, vice president and director of technical research at Gruntal Financial Inc.

“The ability of the Dow to hug the 2,100 level is a signal that this market has started some kind of a summer rally,” he said.

Institutional investors, mutual funds and foreign buyers are sitting on the sidelines with plenty of cash, and their decisions about whether to re-enter the market could hinge on the coming economic data.

A modest gain in bond prices and a stronger dollar failed to lure investors from the sidelines, traders said.

“People don’t want to take chances until they see that trade number in the morning,” John Burnett of Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette said on Monday.

Other reports to be issued this week include retail sales, industrial production, business inventories, factory capacity and housing starts.

Among actively traded issues, Texaco fell 1 3/8 to 50 1/2. The oil giant’s largest shareholder, Carl C. Icahn, revealed he has put $310 million in escrow to back his bid for Texaco and that he has held talks with Gulf Canada Ltd. and Husky Oil Ltd. about the possibility of forming a joint venture to acquire Texaco.

Stock prices rose in Tokyo on Monday in moderate volume in a market that lacked direction as investors awaited today’s U.S. April trade figures.

The Nikkei index rose 116.18 to 28,036.54. Volume was a relatively light 900 million shares, compared to 2.2 billion shares on Friday.

Share prices closed lower on the London Stock Exchange on Monday amid a bout of jitters ahead of the release of U.S. trade figures for April.

At the close, the Financial Times 100-share index was down 11.0 at 1,838.8. Volume was a thin 316.2 million shares, down from Friday’s 497.6 million shares.