US stocks tumbled yesterday, with the Nasdaq composite index sustaining its worst point loss in more than a month, as investors sold shares to capture profits from the market's recent rally.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 93.89, or 0.8 per cent, to close at 10,995.63. The Standard and Poor's 500 fell 16.24 to 1,404.70. The Nasdaq fell 49.68 to 3,342.88 in its worst performance since October 15th, when the index lost 75.01.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 12-to-5 margin on the New York Stock Exchange, with 2,207 down, 912 up and 449 unchanged.

NYSE volume totalled 913.87 million shares, against 860.81 million in the previous session.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 6.46 to 454.31.