Dow Gains 25; Oil Falls Below $14 a Barrel

* Brisk buying tied to surging overseas markets and quarterly expirations of options and futures powered stocks ahead Friday.

* Oil prices tumbled below $14 per barrel for the first time in five years as the energy markets con tinued to reel from oversupply.

* Long-term Treasury bond yields dipped following a newspaper report that the Federal Reserve Board does not see an immediate need to raise interest rates.

Stocks

The Dow Jones industrial average and broader stock market measures gained ground. The industrials rose 25.43 to 3,751.57, producing a gain of 10.90 for the week.

Volume on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange ballooned to 363.75 million shares, inflated by trades related to the expirations.

The “triple witching” phenomenon occurs once each calendar quarter and often causes heavy trading as investors realign their holdings of stock index options and futures and options on individual stocks.

In the broader market, advancing stocks outpaced declines by about 2 to 1 on the Big Board after a flood of late “buy” orders boosted the number of issues rising in price.

Tokyo share prices rose for the third straight day, and the Nikkei-225 average rose 262.63 points to 18,051.63. In London, the Financial Times 100-share average ended at another all-time high, up 25.9 points at 3,3371.1. Mexico’s Bolsa also ended at another record high, gaining 31.72 points to close at 2,454.57.

Equity and bond investors got encouragement from a growing perception that the Fed might refrain from tightening credit policy in the immediate future.

Among the market highlights:

* One conspicuous loser was Merry-Go-Round, which dropped another 3/4 to 2 1/8. The company has missed payments to suppliers, sparking speculation in financial circles of a possible bankruptcy filing.

* Gainers among the blue-chips included IBM, which jumped 2 1/4 to 59 3/4, a new high for the year.

Other Markets

The drop in oil prices was tied mainly to selling pressure ahead of Monday’s deadline to trade oil contracts for delivery in January.

Light, sweet crude oil for delivery in January settled at $13.91 per barrel, down 32 cents, at the New York Merc.

Meanwhile, in the bond market, the yield on the Treasury’s main 30-year bond fell to 6.28% from 6.29% on Thursday.

Elsewhere, the dollar rose against most major currencies, with the Japanese yen weakening.

Market Roundup, D4