The stock market hovered in a narrow range today as Wall Streeters voiced mixed feelings about the inflation outlook. The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials rose 3.65 to 2,003.15 by 3 p.m. on Wall Street. Losers outnumbered gainers by about 9 to 5 in the overall tally of New York Stock Exchange-listed issues, with 518 up, 933 down and 482 unchanged. The Labor Department reported this morning that the consumer price index rose 0.5 percent in March. That marked the biggest monthly increase in the inflation gauge since it jumped 0.7 percent in January 1987. But analysts said there was a general sense of relief on Wall Street that the figure wasn't worse. Rumors and conjecture that the increase might run close to a full percentage point sent both stock and bond prices lower in late trading on Tuesday. Columbia Gas System fell 1{ to 28] in active trading. The company cut its quarterly dividend from 79.5 cents a share to 50 cents a share. American Telephone & Telegraph gained ] to 26~. The company reported higher first-quarter profits and said it was aiming to sustain earnings growth at a 15 percent rate for the remainder of the year. B.F. Goodrich was unchanged at 52\ after trading as high as 54{. The company said it had been notified by Sir James Goldsmith, the British financier, that he was a ``passive investor'' in Goodrich and was not interested, as rumored, in acquiring it. The NYSE's composite index of all its listed common stocks lost .17 to 146.00. At the American Stock Exchange, the market value index was down 1.99 at 297.93. Volume on the Big Board came to 120.56 million shares with an hour to go.
