FINANCIAL MARKETS : STOCKS : Dow Advances 24.77 for Fifth Straight Gain

Stocks gained momentum Friday and cruised to their fifth straight advance as buyers were swept up with renewed confidence in the economic outlook and in U.S. financial markets.

The Dow Jones index of 30 industrial stocks rallied 24.77 to finish at 2,660.36, its best closing level since mid-January.

For the week, the closely watched index rose 96.17, or 3.75%, its best performance since the week after last year’s October “mini-crash.�

In the broader market, advancing issues outpaced declining ones by about 2 to 1 in trading of New York Stock Exchange-listed stocks, with 982 up, 484 down and 503 unchanged.

Big Board volume totaled 164.33 million shares, up from Thursday’s 157.93 million. Market analysts said the strong performance was made possible in part by momentum building up all week.

Confidence in the U.S. financial markets got a boost when stocks managed to shrug off a series of severe setbacks in Tokyo.

“I think our market clearly has decoupled from the Japanese market,� said Gordon L. Smith, a managing director at Alex. Brown & Sons in Baltimore. “This week demonstrated that is the case.�

A new government reading on the economy released Friday morning reinforced the feeling that the U.S. economy isn’t about to slump into a recession, analysts said.

Reporting on the main government gauge of the economy’s future, the Commerce Department said the index of leading economic indicators showed no change in January. The flat reading followed two months of increase.

“The numbers all week for the most part indicate the economy’s kind of OK. That has been of some encouragement to people,� Smith said.

Texas Utilities topped the Big Board’s list of actively traded issues, rising 1/8 to 34 3/4 as more than 4.1 million shares changed hands. Dividend-related trades swelled volume in the stock.

Philip Morris was next in line and rose 7/8 to 36 7/8.

Among other heavily traded blue chips, General Motors jumped 1 to 46, General Electric gained 3/4 to 62 3/8, IBM added 7/8 to 104 7/8 and Exxon, sold heavily earlier in the week because of an indictment stemming from last March’s Alaskan oil spill, went up 1/4 to 46 3/4.

Other auto stocks besides GM fared well. Ford advanced 1 1/4 to 47 1/8, and Chrysler climbed 3/4 to 17 1/4.

Tokyo stocks rose Friday on a general sense that the market was due for a technical rebound, if not solid recovery, from its recent pullback. The key Nikkei 225-share index climbed 227.98 to 34,057.56 after toppling 762.41 Thursday.

In London, share prices ended higher after a calm session on London’s Stock Exchange. The Financial Times 100-share index was up 16.4 to close at 2,254.8.