Stocks sank yesterday, as a barrage of bad earnings news from high-tech bellwethers like Nortel Networks, inflation fears and air strikes on Iraq combined to drive the Nasdaq market to its lowest close since early January.

Reports that US and British planes struck Iraqi air defence facilities south of Baghdad pushed the market to session lows in early afternoon, adding to the gloom spreading through Wall Street and sending the technology-stacked Nasdaq composite index down more than 6 per cent at one point.

Some of the technology sector's biggest names - fiber-optics supplier Nortel Networks, computer maker Dell Computer, and computer and printer company Hewlett-Packard - cast a pall over the market with dour forecasts for near-term growth.