Index falls despite Wall Street’s gains

The Arkansas Index, a price- weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, dropped 3.54 to 356.93 Tuesday even as other indexes on Wall Street rose.

“The major averages climbed to fresh highs Tuesday, buoyed by an encouraging round of economic and earnings updates,” said Bob Williams, senior vice president and managing director of Simmons First Investment Group Inc. in Little Rock.

Total volume for the index was 39.3 million shares.

The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat- Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.