Coca-Cola shares hit highest level since 1998

By Ryan Vlastelica

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shares of Coca-Cola Co rose to their highest level since 1998 on Tuesday, bucking the downward trend of the broader market.

The beverage giant rose 0.7 percent to $43.90, moving within a dollar of its all-time intraday high of $44.44, hit on July 15, 1998. The stock was the only Dow component in positive territory.

With the day's gain, Coke is up a little more than 6 percent thus far in 2014, outperforming the S&P 500's 5.3 percent rise and the Dow's 1.4 percent advance.

The stock was one of only 27 companies on the New York Stock Exchange to hit a 52-week high on Tuesday, compared with the 143 to hit a 52-week low.

In a sign of the market's recent weakness, there has not been a day when the number of highs on the NYSE outpaced the number of lows since Sept. 19.

Index snapshot at 14:52 EDT:

* S&P 500 was falling 18.54 points, or 0.94 percent.

* Nasdaq Comp was losing 45.56 points, or 1.02 percent.

* Dow industrials was dropping 183.15 points, or 1.08 percent.

* Russell 2000 was falling 10.57 points, or 0.97 percent.

* S&P MidCap was dropping 11.06 points, or 0.81 percent.

* S&P SmallCap was losing 5.98 points, or 0.95 percent.

(Editing by Nick Zieminski)