Dow down 40 over
Asia fears

NEW YORK -- Stocks fell today as a market hounded by signs of a worsening Asian backdrop drew little solace from the resignation of Indonesian President Suharto after a week of deadly rioting in that country.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 39.11 to close at 9,132.37, after surrendering an early 30-

point gain that put the blue-chip barometer within 10 points of May 13's record of 9,211.84.

The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 4.42 to 1,114.64, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 10.75 to 1,821.00.

Decliners outnumbered advancers by a 7-to-6 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 1,347 up, 1,578 down and 599 unchanged. NYSE volume totaled 550.89 million shares vs. 586.33 million yesterday.

The NYSE composite index fell 1.73 to 576.90, and the American Stock Exchange composite index rose 0.14 to 732.36.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 1.34 to 467.20.

The price of the Treasury's main 30-year bond was down 12/32 point, or $3.75 per $1,000 in face value, at 102 27/32 late this afternoon, while its yield climbed to 5.92 percent from 5.87 percent late yesterday.

The U.S. stock market retreat came despite a rally on major Asian markets following the latest developments in Indonesia. Tokyo's Nikkei stock average rose 1.2 percent to 15,845, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed at 9,670.45, up 1.3 percent.

Big-name technology shares took another beating today amid mounting profit worries.