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Techs take a late-day dive
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December 28, 1999: 6:24 p.m. ET
Afternoon sell-off caps off volatile pre-Y2K trading session
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Technology stocks lost their momentum and finished broadly lower Tuesday as a late-afternoon sell-off erased the day’s earlier gains.
After hovering at a level above the 4,000 mark for the better part of the session, the tech-rich Nasdaq composite index plummeted during the last hour of trade, slipping 3.27 to 3972.11. The index is up more than 80 percent this year.
Tuesday was also the last day that fund managers, seeking to lock in on some of the high-flying dot-coms to dress up their portfolios, could do so in time to have the trades cleared before year-end, adding to the session’s volatility.
"People are buying stocks that have had momentum,” said Peter Gottlieb, a vice president and portfolio manager at First Albany Asset Management in Chicago. "People want to make sure their portfolios look good at the end of the year.”
Internet stocks, which had traded higher for most of the day, gave back their gains. The Dow Jones composite Internet index slipped fractionally lower, ending at 396.92 after hovering just below the 400 mark most of the day.
Shares of Web portal Yahoo! (YHOO) slid nearly 6 percent, ending the session 24-3/4 lower at 390-1/4. Lycos (LCOS) slipped nearly 5 percent, finishing 3-15/16 lower at 76-13/16.
Online prescription retailers caught the market’s attention after the Clinton administration announced plans to tighten federal regulation of online drug sales.
Drugstore.com (DSCM) slid nearly 10 percent, ending the session 3-9/16 lower at 32-7/16. PlanetRx.com (PLRX) fell 1/4 to 14-9/16, a 1.7 percent decline on the day. Meanwhile, CVS (CVS), parent of CVS.com, inched up 5/16, ending the session at 36-3/16.
On the upside, Amazon.com (AMZN) added 1-3/16 to close 1.5 percent higher at 82-5/16. Online toy-seller eToys (ETYS), which fell more than 16 percent Monday, edged up 3-1/16 to 29, a near 12 percent gain on the day.
Shares of Internet software developer Inktomi (INKT) ticked up 8-15/16 to 191-1/2, ending the session 5 percent higher.
Chip makers posted mixed results on Tuesday. The Philadelphia Stock Exchange’s semiconductor index ended 5.05 lower at 699.02.
Shares of communications-chip maker Broadcom (BRCM) soared more than 7 percent, adding 19-3/16 to end the session at 269-3/16. C-Cube Microsystems (CUBE), which makes chips for digital video applications, ended the session more than 4 percent higher, ticking up 2-5/8 to 61-3/4.
Analog chip makers also edged up on Tuesday. Maxim (MXIM) added 1-1/8 to end the session 2.5 percent higher at 46-5/8. Analog Devices (ADI) advanced 3.3 percent, picking up 2-5/8 to end at 83-1/4.
Shares of Intel (INTC) slid 2-1/16 to end 2.4 percent lower at 83. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) lost 3/16, ending the session at 28-3/4.
Elsewhere, shares of Centennial Cellular (CYCL), a Neptune, N.J., wireless telephone service provider, soared nearly 44 percent, ending 29-1/2 higher at 96-3/4 after the company set a 3-for-1 split of its common shares.
Software giant Microsoft (MSFT) slipped 1-5/8 to 117-/12, just short of its 52-week high of 119-1/4. Apple Computer (AAPL) lost 1-1/8 to 98-3/6. Dell Computer (DELL) fell 3/4 to 51-9/16. 
-- from staff and wire reports
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