Stocks diverged in familiar fashion in New York yesterday, with technology shares leading the Nasdaq composite index higher for a sixth straight session while blue-chip industrials slumped.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 58.01, or 0.4 per cent, to 10,905.79.

The Nasdaq rose 76.40 to 4,320.54, coasting past its previous record of 4,244.14, set on Friday.

The Nasdaq, dominated by technology stocks, has risen more than 5 per cent so far this year, while the blue-chip Dow industrial average has fallen more than 5 per cent. NYSE volume totalled 915.13 million shares, against 1.03 billion in the previous session.