WALL Street stocks retreated yesterday as investors sold some of their holdings to take advantage of recent market gains.

The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials closed down 21.68 points at 5,579.55. It lost as much as 46 points in the morning before moving off the bottom.

Analysts and traders were not too concerned about the day's losses, saying the market needed to take a breather after seven days of setting new highs on the Dow average.

Advances led declines by 1,155 to 1,172 on the New York Stock Exchange, with 773 unchanged.

Big Board volume totalled 416.76 million shares, against 440.75 million on Tuesday.

The NYSE's composite index fell 1.94 to 349.35. The Standard and Poor's 500-stock index fell 4.94 to 655.57.

The Nasdaq composite index fell 0.65 to 1,086.57.

At the American Stock Exchange, the market value index fell 0.36 to 560.98.