A handful of technology stocks rose yesterday as guarded optimism carried over from Friday's big rally, while the broader market slipped amid trading volume lightened by a vacationing Wall Street.

The Nasdaq Composite Index ended 4.39 points lower, or 0.23 percent, at 1,912.41, according to the latest data, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 40.82 points, or 0.39 percent, to 10,382.35. The broader, diversified Standard & Poor's 500 Index slipped 5.71 points, or 0.48 percent, at 1,179.22.

But the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index rose nearly 2 per cent, to close at a level unseen in nearly three weeks.

"Some people are coming back to tech. Recently people were selling off tech and going into financials, now we see the opposite," said Ahmet Okumus, manager of the $400 million (E million), Okumus Opportunity Fund.

"The long-term outlook for tech is good, although short-term, for the next one or two quarters it is cloudy."

On Friday, major stock indices posted their biggest rally in more than six weeks on hopes the flagging US economy and dwindling corporate profits may be poised for recovery after Cisco Systems, the world's No. 1 maker of gear that powers the Internet, pointed to signs its business is stabilising.