The blue-chip sector struggled, but stocks were mostly higher in quiet Wall Street trading. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 27.41 points to close at 7,867.23, recovering over the final hour from a 76point deficit.

Broad-market indicators posted modest gains, with the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies closing at a record high for the sixth consecutive session.

The continued strength in smaller company shares also bolstered the technology-heavy Nasdaq market.

Although Wednesday's release of fairly strong auto sales data for August aggravated some inflation jitters, there was little reaction to yesterday's generally upbeat reports on last month's sales at the nation's big retail chains.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by nearly eight to seven on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,501 up, 1,322 down and 560 unchanged. NYSE volume totalled 559.32 million shares.