Slow day on Wall Street

Wall Street’s concerns overshadowed the latest round of mergers and acquisitions, topped by Washington Mutual’s planned takeover of Providian Financial in the financial sector. The light volume and a small ratio between advancing and declining stocks illustrated the market’s malaise.

“There’s just not a lot out there that’s going to push this market around,” said Jeff Kleintop, chief investment strategist for PNC Financial Services Group in Philadelphia. “The problem we have here is that there’s just no economic data, nothing out there that will give us anything to really act on.”

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 6.06, or 0.06%, to 10,467.03.

Broader stock indicators closed narrowly higher. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 1.49, or 0.12%, to 1,197.51, and the Nasdaq composite index gained 4.33, or 0.21%, to 2,075.76.

Crude oil futures trading has been awash in worry and speculation over the past two weeks, with the latest concern being the advent of the Atlantic hurricane season, which traders fear could hurt refining capacity in the south. Crude oil prices hit a six-week high earlier in the session, but gave back their gains later in the day. A barrel of light crude settled at 54.49 dollars, down 54 cents, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The bond market edged higher in late trading, with the yield on the 10-year Treasury note falling to 3.96% from 3.98% late Friday. The dollar fell against most major indexes, while gold prices were higher.

Much of the trading was limited to individual stocks, with the lack of trading interest leaving Wall Street unable to mount a rally.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by nearly 4 to 3 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 1.17 billion shares, compared with 1.29 billion traded Friday.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies was up 2.63, or 0.42%, at 622.94.