Dow gains 15.96

NEW YORK -- Stocks posted slim gains today despite an early downturn, but the buying was hesitant with the market holding such big gains before the impending crush of company profit reports.

The Dow Jones industrial average finished 15.96 points higher at 9,105.74 after recovering from a morning deficit of 60 points. The Dow rose 80.48 for the week, bring this year's gain to nearly 1,200 points, or 15.1 percent.

Decliners led advancers by a 6-to-5 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,319 up, 1,598 down and 603 unchanged. NYSE volume was 574.59 million shares, down sharply from 655.65 million yesterday.

Most broad-market indexes also turned higher, with the Nasdaq composite setting a third straight record.

The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 5.77 to 1,164.33, about 2 points below Wednesday closing record of 1,166.38. For the year, the S&P 500 is up 20.0 percent. The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index rose 3.22 to a record 1,943.04, extending 1998's gain to 23.7 percent

The NYSE composite index rose 1.95 to 592.18, about 2 points below Wednesday's record of 594.35 but still up 15.8 percent so far in 1998.

The American Stock Exchange composite index rose 2.75 to 730.66 and is up 6.7 percent for the year. The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies lost 1.57 today to close at 458.43 and is up 4.9 percent so far in 1998.

The benchmark 30-year Treasury bond, meantime, fell 9/32, or $2.81 per $1,000 bond, to 107 5/32, sending its yield up 2 basis points to 5.62 percent.

Overseas, Tokyo's Nikkei stock average fell 2.2 percent.