Dow continues to slip; tech battered

Rising interest rates coupled with negative earnings forecast and an unprecedented rise in  oil prices paved the way for a down trend which pulled the Dow Jones down 0.23% (or 24 points) to 10,369.

Technology stocks were hammered down yesterday due to the unimpressive quarterly results posted by chipmakers. The Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 25.57 points, or 1.26% to close at 2,009, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 4.12 points, or 0.35%, to end at 1,164.

The markets ended with losses for the fourth consecutive session and for the third consecutive week this year.

Indian ADRs took a beating on the Wall Street yesterday with most of the stocks ending in red.

Infosys plummeted by 2%(down $1.07) to close at $60.51. Wipro crashed 5% or $1 below to $19.86. Satyam was the only scrip which bucked the trend and appreciated by a per cent to $22.27.

ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank, both slumped 2% to finally settle at $18.50 and $41, respectively.

Dr Reddy's finished almost unchanged (down 0.41%) at $17.10, while VSNL crashed 3% to $9.21.