shares of merck  co inc mrk rose 153 to 11516 thursday on what proved to be an allaround favorable trading session for the stock market with the sp 500 index spx rising 196 to 413535 and the dow jones industrial average djia rising 157 to 3382616 merck  co inc closed 170 below its 52week high 11686 which the company reached on april 25th