Mixed close for US stocks

Wall Street close mixed tonight amid concern about weak sales predictions and accounting investigations in the telecommunications and technology sectors.

Tech stocks retreated but blue chips showed a small gain. Analysts said investors, after pushing tech prices higher last week, were shifting away from the volatile sector until earnings prospects improved or stocks become cheaper.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 21.11, or 0.2%, at 10,632.35. It was also the Dow’s second close in a row above 10,600 a level last reached in July.

Broader stock indicators fell. The technology-focused Nasdaq composite index dropped 32.37, or 1.7%, to 1,897.12. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 2.68, or 0.2%, to 1,165.58.

Although today’s selling coincided with disappointing news, many analysts had predicted a pullback. Stocks have been steadily moving higher all month, with the Nasdaq advancing 7% last week, leading to speculation that Wall Street was ready for a pause.

‘‘The market has been very strong of late and was due for a pause to refresh, regardless of whether there was good news or bad news,’’ said Alfred Goldman, chief market strategist for AG Edwards & Sons Inc.

Stock prices also remain a concern. Although Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan said last week that a recovery from the recession ‘‘is already well under way’’, jittery investors are worried that the recovery will be muted and profits lacklustre. They fear some stocks have risen too much given the uncertainty.

In trading today, Wall Street punished stocks it feared would not deliver big returns. Lucent slid 66 cents, or 10.5%, to dlrs 5.60, while Nokia lost dlrs 1.41, or 6%, to dlrs 22.09, after the telecommunications companies each reduced sales forecasts.

Microsoft tumbled dlrs 1.80 to dlrs 62.54 on a Goldman Sachs research note saying the bellwether’s sales performance for the next fiscal year would be lower than many analysts predicted.

But IBM soared dlrs 3.26, or 3.1%, to dlrs 108.50 after a filing indicated that earnings from its core businesses were stronger than earlier statements indicated.

IBM is a Dow component and its gains helped push the index slightly higher. The Dow was also helped by Merck, which rose 75 cents to dlrs 63.49 as investors looked for alternatives to technology.

WorldCom and Qwest Communications International dropped significantly on reports that the Securities and Exchange Commission was looking into their bookkeeping. WorldCom lost dlrs 1.08, or 12%, to dlrs 7.93, while Qwest shed 51 cents, or 5.4%, to dlrs 8.95.

Declining shares narrowly led advancers on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume totalled 1.03 billion shares compared with 932.82 million at the same time on Monday.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 1.85 to 498.90.