Adding to the downward pressure on technology stocks (see Finance section), Motorola issued a profit warning late Thursday night, blaming the weakened Asian currencies for its expected lower-than expected first quarter earnings. The Schaumburg Illinois company also says its revenues will be static compared with the year-ago quarter. Motorola says its worst-hit sector will be semiconductors. The sector’s consumer systems group and components group, have both seen softness in demand in Asia and increased price pressure in most other regional semiconductor markets. The sector’s networking and computing system, wireless subscriber systems and transportation systems groups have experienced more normal growth rates and pricing, the company said. The company’s cellular and paging groups were also hit by the slow-down in Asia, but to a lesser extent.
