NEW YORK, Dec 31 (AFP) - US shares drifted higher Friday in a quiet session as Wall Street was closing out a modestly upbeat year for the stock market.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average crept higher by 2.58 points (0.02 percent) to 10,802.88 and the Nasdaq added 1.96 points (0.09 percent) to 2,180.30 at 1625 GMT.
The broad-market Standard and Poor's 500 index was virtually flat, clinging to a gain of 0.51 point (0.04 percent) to 1,214.06.
Trading was thin with many trading desks manned with skeleton staffs and the commodities market closed for the New Year's holiday.
"We should be in for a rather quiet exodus to 2004," Cantor Fitzgerald's US market strategist Marc Pado told clients.
"Whether or not we finish 2004 on the highest close of the day will depend on whether funds are saving some powder for a little window dressing activity."
Bob Dickey at RBC Dain Rauscher said the market was closing out the year with good momentum after a soft patch that led to a rally around the time of the November election.
"There is usually more optimism present around holiday periods, so the market participants that are working today will probably carry on with a bullish bent," he said.
"Next week will surely see a return of the volume and volatility, and with it, in our opinion, a continuation of the primary trend, which is currently to the upside. January is statistically the best month of the year for Nasdaq stocks, and we expect to once again see that tradition carry into 2006."
As of the opening Friday, the Dow blue-chip index was up 3.3 percent for the year, with the Nasdaq rising 8.7 percent and the S and P 500 gaining 9.1 percent.
Among active shares, General Electric rose 11 cents to 36.71 after confirming its outlook for its full-year 2004 profit.
Boeing dipped 18 cents to 51.72 even after the aerospace giant announced a deal to sell four of its news 7E7 Dreamliner jets to Vietnam Airlines with a book value of 500 million dollars. Boeing now says it has orders for 126 of the fuel-efficient planes, with 56 under firm contract.
HealthSouth rose 14 cents to 6.44 after reaching a settlement with US authorities on billing fraud charges.
Eli Lilly slid 70 cents to 56.80 after the British Medical Journal cited a possible link between its anti-depressant Prozac and violent of suicidal actions.
Bonds were firm, with the yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond dipping to 4.232 percent from 4.263 percent Thursday and that on the 30-year bond to 4.843 percent from 4.880 percent. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
12/31/2004 16:38 GMT - AFP