The market fell sharply again in New York yesterday on fears of poor corporate earnings, but a round of afternoon bargain hunting saved the Nasdaq composite index from closing at its lowest level this year.

Blue chips also fell as part of a downturn that began after Lucent Technologies warned of disappointing third-quarter results. Even positive earnings reports from some of Wall Street's highest-profile companies failed to staunch the sell-off.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 110.61 to 10,413.79, a mild recovery from its 157.97-point drop earlier in the day.

The Nasdaq closed down 72.05 at 3,168.49. The index remained in negative territory, but well above its late morning level of 3,103.53 - the lowest reading since last November.

The Standard and Poor's 500 index was off 22.43 at 1,364.59.