Securities dealers said a combination of too much apathy and too many vacations kept the prices of debt securities steady.

Prices of debt securities were little changed yesterday, but the credit markets remained unsettled about rising commodity prices and the possibility that the Federal Reserve will eventually push short-term rates higher.

Russia's decisions to devalue its currency and to default on some domestic debt have wreaked havoc with prices of debt securities, and the turmoil shows little sign of easing.

Besides the economic outlook, traders' prices of debt securities were supported by a drop in the overnight rate for bank loans in the Federal funds market to about 6 percent, from 6.22 percent on Tuesday.

In the credit markets, prices of debt securities retreated today and interest rates rose, which some analysts attributed to the fact that the increase in the Producer Price Index for Finished Goods exceeded expectations.

An example of that overreaction took place in February, some bankers with years of foreign experience argue, when prices of debt securities in the emerging markets tumbled after the Federal Reserve Board began to push up short-term rates in the United States.