Profit-taking left stock prices narrowly mixed yesterday, with bank and pharmaceutical stocks among the decliners and securities firms among the big gainers. At the close on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 37.74 at 11,215.10.

The Nasdaq composite index rose 11.82 at 4,082.41. The Standard and Poor's 500 index dropped 4.19 at 1,509.90.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a narrow margin on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 783.37 million shares, up from Monday's pace.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies was up 2.90 at 529.38.