Wall St tech shares lower midsession

Shares in technology companies traded lower midsession, as investors continued to take their cue from the recent slew of negative news hitting the sector and as buyers widely continued to remain elusive, dealers said.

At 1.49 pm in New York trade, the Nasdaq composite lost 17.47 points or 1.17% to 1,479.36 after opening slightly down at 1,494.80 and trading in a range of 1,474.99-1,503.01. Volume was 1.1 billion shares, with 1,669 Nasdaq issues rising, 1,610 declining and 252 remaining unchanged.

The Nasdaq 100 gave up 24.65 points or a steeper 2.25% to 1,072.89 and the Philadelphia semiconductor (Sox) index fell 18.75 points or 4.55% to 393.44, near its September lows.

Amongst other Wall Street indices, the DJIA slipped 54.0 points or 0.56% to 9,507.57 and the S&P 500 lost 7.16 points or 0.70% to 1,012.83.

Investors continued to focus on the recent negative news from technology companies given a lack of fresh upbeat news on the corporate front, dealers said.

While unexpectedly strong Philadelphia Fed data went some way in helping to boost overall investor sentiment, buyers remain reluctant to step up to the plate given a wide range of concerns including international tension and corporate integrity, they said.

Semiconductor stocks that took a beating yesterday following profit warnings and news of antitrust probes continued their strong declines.

Micron continued its fall to lose a further $2.05 or 10.21% to 18.03 and Rambus steepened its slide to give back a further $0.28 or 6.87% to 3.83.

AMD, which warned on its second quarter, lost $0.43 or 4.94% to 8.27.

Amongst the few gaining issues, Microsoft added $0.26 or 0.48% to 54.62. The technology giant announced a strategic alliance for broadband internet services with Verizon. The company claimed its MSN service will become the US' leading broadband service, reaching over 90% of US DSL-enabled households, after the launch of a co-branded service early next year.

Sun Microsystems lost $0.21 or 3.48% to 5.82. CEO Scott McNealy confirmed to AFX News the company's full-year earnings outlook.

Other actively-traded shares included, Applied Materials which gave up $0.74 or 3.76% to 18.95. Oracle lost $0.17 or 1.93% to 8.63 and Cisco fell $0.23 or 1.59% to 14.26.