Wall Street edges down; energy shares extend decline

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were lower at midday on Thursday as energy shares extended their decline and shares of Apple dipped.

The S&P 500 energy index <.SPNY> was down 0.4 percent, on track for its fourth straight decline. Shares of Nabors Industries dipped 2.4 percent and shares of Chesapeake Energy fell 2.1 percent.

Nabors shares dropped following news Pamplona Capital Management LLP's private equity fund had sold a stake in the oilfield services provider.

"If you look at the price action it the energy/commodity space, the market seems to be tracking that pretty closely," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Wunderlich Securities in New York. "There really hasn't been a supply shock" so oil prices have come down.

Some investors had been pricing in disruptions due to overseas tensions. U.S. crude oil prices were nearly flat while benchmark Brent crude were at a two-year low on Thursday. [O/R]

Apple was down 1 percent.

Among gainers, shares of JDS Uniphase were up 11.6 percent, a day after it said it would split into two public companies as it looks to expand in data communication market and strengthen its network business.

Wall Street's weakness follows limp jobless claims data, which pushed investors to continue taking profits in a market that had rallied to repeated records.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was down 34.97 points, or 0.2 percent, to 17,033.74, the S&P 500 <.SPX> fell 2.8 points, or 0.14 percent, to 1,992.89 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> fell 11.15 points, or 0.24 percent, to 4,575.38.

The largest percentage gainer on the New York Stock Exchange was Taminco , which jumped 10.55 percent, while the largest percentage decliner was Brady Corp , down 9.38 percent.

Among the most active stocks on the NYSE were Sprint , up 4.55 percent to $6.43 and AK Steel , up 3.63 percent to $9.41.

Besides Apple and JDS Uniphase, Lululemon , up 15.0 percent to $44.15, was among the most active stocks on Nasdaq.

Declining issues were outnumbering advancing ones on the NYSE by 1,526 to 1,427, for a 1.07-to-1 ratio; on the Nasdaq, 1,398 issues were falling and 1,214 advancing for a 1.15-to-1 ratio.

The broad S&P 500 index was posting 12 new 52-week highs and two new lows; the Nasdaq Composite was recording 38 new highs and 30 new lows.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum)

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