FRONTLINES: INVESTING: AVATAR STILL LIKES DOMESTIC STOCKS

Avatar Associates, New York, moved its equity allocation to 80% stocks and is planning to raise it to 85% soon for its equity-cash tactical asset allocation portfolios, said Edward S. Babbitt Jr., president.Mr. Bab bitt said Avatar still believes the market will go higher, despite the Dow Jones industrial average's lofty level in the upper 7000s. Even the 192.25 point fall in the Dow June 23, its second-worst point drop ever, didn't deter Ava tar. Mr. Babbitt noted its TAA model, which determines the allocation, isn't based on forecasting."It's interest-rate driven," he said. Of the model's factors, interest rate relationships account for half of the weighting. He sai d a rise in rates likely would cause the model to call for a reduction in the equity allocation.Avatar, which manages $2.6 billion in its equity-cash TAA strategy, had that strategy at 50% equities in mid-April and 70% equities in late May. In its equity-bonds-cash TAA portfolios, for which it manages $1.5 billion, the weighting is at 65% equities, 30% bonds and 5%. In April, the strategy was 30% in equities.