New York ? The drama continued on Wall Street Monday as despondent investors sent stocks skidding and the Dow Jones industrials falling nearly 440 points before bargain hunters surfaced in late afternoon. The blue chips ended with a moderate loss of 45 while tech stocks posted a modest advance.

The Dow was near the closing low it reached after the Sept. 11 terror attacks and on its way to its fifth triple-digit loss in six sessions when it turned around during the last 90 minutes of trading. But the recovery was due more to attractive prices rather than a change in investor sentiment.

“Some people are stepping in to see if they can make some money. I don’t know if that will be sustained,” said Stephen Carl, principal and head of equity trading at The Williams Capital Group.

The Dow recovered to a loss of 45.34, or 0.5 percent, at 8,639.19. Combined with last week’s loss of 694.97, the blue chips have fallen 740.31 points over six straight losing sessions. Last week marked the Dow’s largest weekly point decline since Sept. 21, when they dropped 1,369.70 following the terrorist attacks.

The market’s broader indicators, having already fallen through their Sept. 21 lows, were mixed after recovering from their lows of the session.

The Nasdaq composite index rose 9.12, or 0.7 percent, to 1,382.62, after last week’s loss of 74.86, or 5.2 percent. The Nasdaq was down more than 58 points earlier.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 3.46, or 0.4 percent, to 917.93, recovering from a loss of nearly 45 points. The S&P ended last week down 67.64, or 6.8 percent.

Investors seem to be in the throes of a deep depression, one that shows no sign of lifting for the foreseeable future. Corporate accounting scandals have spooked Wall Street, making investors mistrustful of earnings reports and outlooks for the remainder of the year, and sending stocks tumbling for eight weeks.

“For lack of a better description, you have as much full-fledged panic as you are going to get,” said Tony Cecin, director of institutional trading at US Bancorp Piper Jaffray in Minneapolis. “The negative mentality is as pervasive as I have ever seen it, and I went through (the) ’73 and ’74” bear market.

Roger Hing, 70, a retired electronics engineer in Fountain Valley, Calif., said he has been “selling a lot this year.”

“I don’t think the economy is going to pick us as much as everyone thinks it is,” he said. “The investing public is very concerned, at least I am, about what is happening with bookkeeping.”

In selling stocks, investors have ignored mounting evidence of an economic recovery. The major indexes have not finished a week higher since mid-May.

“Just as the markets were driven on the upside by emotion euphoria and greed this market is driven by fear and despair,” said Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer at First Albany Corp. “It is not at all unusual for the market to disconnect from the economy and earnings when fear takes hold.”

Analysts say the dollar, weakening against international currencies, is another drag on the market, and has prompted many foreign investors to exit U.S. equities.

Bookkeeping concerns weighed on Duke Energy, which fell $1.05 to $23.70 after being downgraded by Morgan Stanley, Salomon Smith Barney and Goldman Sachs. On Thursday, Duke said it had received subpoenas from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Houston office of the U.S. attorney for information related to its trading activities.

Energy company El Paso Corp., which said it received a similar subpoena Friday from the Houston office of the U.S. attorney, declined 25 cents to $17.50.

Other losers included 3M, down $1.98 at $118.89, and Johnson & Johnson, which fell $1.50 to $49. And, General Electric declined 35 cents to $28.25, despite reaffirming its yearly earnings outlook last week.

But Coca-Cola rose 95 cents to $52 following news it will adjust its accounting to report results more fairly. Coke will begin treating stock options as employee compensation.

Dell Computer advanced 42 cents to $25.44, having raised its second-quarter earnings and revenue estimates last Thursday.

There was no economic news to inspire investors. The Commerce Department reported businesses raised their inventories by 0.2 percent. Analysts were mixed in interpreting the finding. Some viewed the increase as a sign of an ongoing slump in demand for goods, while others were hopeful that it meant companies are confident enough about the economy to increase their stockpiles.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers more than 7 to 3 on the New York Stock Exchange. Consolidated volume was relatively heavy at 2.4 billion shares, ahead of Friday’s 1.92 billion.

The Russell 2000 index, the barometer of smaller company stocks, fell 4.20, or 1 percent, to 409.08.

Overseas markets were lower Monday with Japan’s Nikkei stock average finishing down 2.1 percent. In Europe, Britain’s FTSE 100 and France’s CAC-40 each slid 5.4 percent, and Germany’s DAX index dropped 5.3 percent.