The Dow Jones share index has closed below the symbolic 9,000 level for the first time in nearly three weeks.

Analysts said the slide was mainly due to traders locking in profits following recent share price rises.

"The market has been so strong recently, people are trying to take some gains and head out of the city," said Peter Dunay, chief market strategist at Wall Street Access.

The Dow ended the day down 89.99 points, nearly 1%, at 8,989.05, the first time it has closed below the 9,000 level since 9 June.

The tech-based Nasdaq index closed down 8.73 points at 1,625.28 while the wider S&P 500 index slipped 9.6 points to 976.22.

Results focus

Market watchers said fund managers were seeking to make their holdings look as good as possible before Monday, when the second quarter of 2003 comes to an end.

"We've had a good quarter, so some people are repositioning their portfolios," said Robert Harrington at UBS.

Sentiment was not helped by a fall in the University of Michigan's consumer confidence index and slightly weaker-than-expected consumer spending data.

Despite recent gains in the market over the past few months, investors are now focusing on the next set of quarterly results figures from US companies.

"We are in a little bit of a resting period ahead of what will be a busy earnings season in a couple of weeks," said Peter Boockvar, equity strategist at Miller Tabak & Co.

There were signs on Friday that investors will show little pity to those companies who fail to meet expectations.

Nike saw its shares fall $3.85, or 6.8%, to $53.08 after it reported falling US orders and released results late on Thursday that narrowly missed Wall Street estimates.