Dow loses 63.52

NEW YORK - Stocks pulled back again today after big names such as Microsoft and Sears Roebuck posted better-than-expected results for the final quarter of 1997, but joined the list of companies expressing concern about 1998 profits. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 63.52 points to close at 7,730.88, extending yesterday's 78-point slide.

Decliners led advancers by nearly a 5-to-3 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,119 up, 1,835 down and 500 unchanged. NYSE volume was 640.40 million shares, up from 625.12 million on yesterday, and the 12th time in 14 sessions this year that more than 600 million shares have traded.

Broader indicators also fell for the second straight session despite some solid profit reports from General Electric, United Technologies, and, late yesterday, Microsoft.

The Standard & Poor's 500-stock list fell 7.74 to 963.04, and the NYSE composite index lost 4.11 to 503.79. The Nasdaq composite index fell 11.41 to 1,576.51, and the American Stock Exchange composite index dropped 3.83 to 665.61. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 3.69 to 426.20.

The price of the Treasury's main 30-year bond was down 3/4 point, or $7.50 per $1,000 in face value, by late afternoon, while its yield rose to 5.86 percent from 5.81 percent late yesterday. Prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Microsoft rose as the most active Nasdaq issue after beating analyst expectations with a 52 percent surge in profits for the final three months of 1997. Although the results were far more robust than those posted by IBM a day earlier, Microsoft echoed IBM's warning that the Asian economic crisis may drag its revenues lower over the next six months.

Sears, meanwhile, was one of the Dow's weaker components after reporting this morning that its fourth-quarter earnings fell 5.5 percent, largely due to bad consumer debt. The results exceeded expectations, but the retailer warned that first-quarter profits would also suffer.

On a more encouraging note, United Technologies rose sharply as the Dow's biggest gainer after the industrial conglomerate exceeded forecasts with a 7 percent improvement in fourth-quarter profits.

The renewed worry about Asia was also fueled today by another sharp decline in the Indonesian currency, which has lost an astonishing 85 percent of its value over the past seven months. Asian stocks, which mounted a partial recovery over the past week, fell today amid fears that the rupiah's continued slide may trigger more instability in the region.

Indonesia's main stock index plunged 4.8 percent as investors sold on fears of more corporate bankruptcies and possible social unrest if the rupiah continues to fall.

Elsewhere in Southeast Asia, Hong Kong's main stock index shed 3.9 percent, Malaysia's fell 2.6 percent, Tokyo's Nikkei stock average dropped 1.7 percent amid some profit-taking on a six-session rebound that boosted the measure nearly 14 percent.

In Europe, Frankfurt's DAX index fell 1.5 percent and London's FTSE 100 fell 0.4 percent.