Nasdaq at Lowest Level in 6 Months

The battered Nasdaq composite index slid Thursday to a new six-month low, while blue chips ended mixed after a two-day rally.

In other trading, the dollar strengthened against key currencies after the Swiss National Bank cut interest rates. And crude oil prices fell as Mideast tensions eased somewhat.

On Wall Street, many big technology stocks remained “falling knives,” dropping in some cases to new multiyear lows.

The selling dragged the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite down 32.71 points, or 2%, to 1,644.82, its lowest since Oct. 10. The index has dropped nearly 12% since April 1.

The tech sector was slammed anew by disappointing earnings from Priceline.com and by a debt downgrade of Xerox. Priceline .com tumbled $1.16, or 22%, to $4.09 and Xerox slumped $1.08, or 12%, to $7.99.

Also, troubled telecom giant WorldCom’s shares hit a new 10-year low, down 18 cents to $2.03.

The tech sector’s main problem continues to be that investors don’t believe an earnings turnaround will happen soon despite the economy’s rebound, analysts said.

Some investors also appear to be throwing in the towel on major names such as WorldCom, Sun Microsystems and Oracle.

Sun and Oracle fell to new multiyear lows Thursday, with Sun off 52 cents to $6.45 and Oracle down 90 cents to $8.55.

“The mood is ugly,” said Seth Tobias, a trader for hedge fund Circle T Partners. “Buyers are staying on the sidelines.”

Merrill Lynch analyst Christopher Shilakes advised clients in a note not to “bargain hunt” among depressed technology shares, “given continuing concerns of earnings risks for bellwethers like Oracle which could cap any near- term rallies in the group,” according to Bloomberg News.

Still, winners and losers were nearly even on Nasdaq overall, reflecting that many investors continue to snap up non-tech names. Winners topped losers by 18 to 13 on the New York Stock Exchange.

In the broader market, the Dow Jones industrials added 32.24 points, or 0.3%, to 10,091.87, and the Standard & Poor’s small-stock index rose 0.4%.

In currency trading, the dollar rose against the yen and the Swiss franc after the Swiss National Bank cut its key short-term rate half a point, to a range of 0.75% to 1.75%, to halt the franc’s recent climb against the dollar.

The news caught traders off guard, even though other major central banks aren’t expected to reduce their rates.

In commodities markets, near-term crude oil futures in New York fell 51 cents to $26.24 a barrel.

Gold continued to ease from recent two-year highs, losing 80 cents to $308.30 an ounce in New York futures trading.

Among Thursday’s highlights:

* In the tech sector, Cisco Systems lost 6 cents to $13.64, IBM fell 44 cents to $83.86 and Microsoft dropped $1.54 to $51.21.

* Among telecom shares, AT&T; fell 29 cents to $13.67 and Equant lost 70 cents to $8.32.

* Some investors turned to heavy-industry shares. Steel firm Nucor rose $1.76 to $59.69. Weyerhaeuser gained $1.73 to $61.12.

* Consumer-related shares also rallied, led by Alberto-Culver, up $1.33 to $56.54; Clorox, up $1.81 to $46.39; and Wendy’s International, up $1.28 to $38.21.

* Among bank stocks, Citigroup rose $1.17 to $44.95 and Bank of America added $1.31 to $73.55, a 52-week high.

* Biotechnology firm Protein Design Labs slumped $3.43 to $13.90 after saying Laurence Jay Korn, a co-founder of the company, had resigned from the chief executive post he has held since 1987.

* In Brazil, the main market index dived 4.2%, hammered by concerns about a leftist candidate’s gains in election polls, postponements of some corporate bond issues and Wall Street losses, traders said.

Market Roundup, C6-7

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