The stock market drifted aimlessly in quiet trading Wednesday, still seemingly in the ``summer doldrums'' with autumn about to arrive. The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials edged up 3.02 to 2,090.50. But declining issues slightly outnumbered advances in nationwide trading of New York Stock Exchange-listed stocks, with 689 up, 697 down and 536 unchanged. Volume on the floor of the Big Board came to 127.40 million shares, against 142.22 million in the previous session. Nationwide, consolidated volume in NYSE-listed issues, including trades in those stocks on regional exchanges and in the over-the-counter market, totaled 148.74 million shares. Activity was curtailed somewhat by the absence of investors who were observing the Jewish holiday Yom Kippur. The Labor Department reported Wednesday morning that the consumer price index rose 0.4 percent in August, matching its July increase. The latest figure was in line with advance estimates on Wall Street, and thus did not stir up much excitement. Still, brokers said there was some relief at the suggestion in the data that inflation wasn't gathering much momentum. Bond prices staged a modest advance in the credit markets, putting yields on long-term government bonds just a shade above 9 percent. ``Apathy and lethargy continue to be the key words to describe conditions in the stock market,'' observes the Merrill Lynch Market Letter in its current edition. Newmont Mining climbed 2 to 36\ on word that Minorco was offering to acquire Consolidated Gold Fields, which owns just under half of Newmont. In the blue-chip sector, General Electric rose \ to 43; International Business Machines gained { to 113\; Philip Morris rose 1 to 96}; General Motors dropped ] to 73~, and American Telephone & Telegraph was unchanged at 26{. Regina Co. tumbled 10 to 7 in the over-the-counter market. The company, a manufacturer of floor care products, said late Tuesday it would report a loss for the current quarter, citing a slowdown of orders and other problems. Precious metals stocks were mixed, holding their ground even as the price of gold fell below $400 an ounce for the first time in more than a year and a half. ASA Ltd. rose { to 36{, while Hecla Mining dropped ] to 13~. As measured by Wilshire Associates' index of more than 5,000 actively traded stocks, the market increased $4.70 billion, or 0.18 percent, in value. The NYSE's composite index of all its listed common stocks gained .20 to 152.64. Standard & Poor's industrial index rose .64 to 310.11, and S&P's 500-stock composite index was up .43 at 270.16. The NASDAQ composite index for the over-the-counter market picked up .81 to 384.91. At the American Stock Exchange, the market value index closed at 298.97, up .34.
