Market quietly closes ahead of holiday-shortened weeks

By Ronda Fears

Nashville, Dec. 20 - For all intents and purposes, it was the final week of the year in convertibles and rather uneventful.

"For the next couple of weeks everybody will have about one-third of their staff on the desk," said Stuart Novick, convertible analyst at Salomon Smith Barney.

Traders said there was not much activity on Friday, in typical fashion, and very little is expected for the remainder of 2002.

"It was Friday, the holidays start next week, the markets seemed slightly positive or at least a bit more stable," said a dealer. "A lot of people just left early."

Holiday parties was a topic at several shops, buyside and sellside alike.

"It's all over, 2002. I thought it was over a week ago," said a convertible trader at a hedge fund in New York.

"Very little happened today and there will be even less the last two weeks of the year."

As has been the case for the past four to six weeks, there is still a bit of portfolio tweaking taking place, but no major positions getting staked out.

Morgan Stanley convertible analysts recommended several portfolio changes Friday and a few of those issues saw some activity.

Added to the Morgan Stanley recommended portfolio were, among others, Hartford Financial Services' 6% mandatory, Mercury Interactive's 4.75% convertible due 2007, Quest Diagnostics' 1.75% convertible due 2021 and Tribune's 0% convertible due 2017.

Deleted from the Morgan Stanley recommended portfolio were, among others, Barnes & Noble's 5.25% convertible due 2009, Gap's 5.75% convertible due 2009, Genzyme's 3% convertible due 2021 and Jones Apparel's 0% convertible due 2021.

Hartford's mandatory gained 1.32 points to 50.32 on the NYSE, while the underlying stock closed up 85c to $46.50.

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