Stocks dipped yesterday as investors eagerly gleaned profits from the bullish New Year markets. The soaring technology sector was hardest hit.

In late trading on Wall Street, the technology-heavy Nasdaq index was sharply down 63.59 at 2,321, while the Dow Jones industrial average was down 145.29 at 9,474.68.

Internet and technology stocks have been the big winners on Wall Street this year, and those gains have pushed the Nasdaq up more than 8 per cent since the start of the year.

But investors yesterday decided to take profits on many of those stocks that have been flying high in 1999. The Standards and Poor's 500 fell 24.01 at 1,239.87, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell 63.58 to 2,321.01.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 12-to-five margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 2,186 up, 892 down and 470 unchanged.