STOCKS fell in New York yesterday, led by a sell-off in technology shares, after Compaq's warning of soft sales raised concerns of a slow down in the computer market.

At the close of trading on Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 59.76 points - or by 0.6 per cent - at 9,306.58. Compaq Computer, the world's biggest manufacturer of personal computers, warned analysts that sales in its small- and medium-business market have slowed this quarter.

The Standard and Poor's 500 declined 6.69 to 1,238.33, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 38.97 to 2,288.03.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by 1,511 to 1,458 on the New York Stock Exchange, with 566 unchanged.