Fund Firms, Investors in P&G; Downdraft

Investors in some Fidelity, Vanguard Group and American Century funds got bruised Tuesday, thanks to bets on Tide, Crest and Pampers.

These fund companies have been among the largest recent holders of Procter & Gamble Co. (ticker symbol: PG), the biggest U.S. maker of household products, which tumbled by almost a third after the company said earnings will fall short in its fiscal third quarter.

Fidelity Investments was the largest P&G; holder, with 44.3 million shares, or 3.4% of the company, as of the end of 1999, according to the latest Securities and Exchange Commission filing. P&G; accounted for about 1.1% of Fidelity Magellan, Fidelity’s largest fund, and 1.5% of Fidelity Growth & Income, according to the latest public filings for those funds, said Carson Group, a New York research firm.

Vanguard owned 20.8 million shares, with P&G; accounting for 3.6% of the Vanguard U.S. Growth fund.

American Century owned 9.8 million shares of P&G; as of the end of the year, and the company made up about 2% of the American Century Select Fund.

Meanwhile, mutual funds that have loaded up on tech continued to see their faith in that sector rewarded. Many tech issues bucked the market slide Tuesday.

Among the day’s big winners were many computer chip makers, including Broadcom, up $7.81 to $243; Cypress Semiconductor, up $3 to $49.94; Advanced Micro Devices, up $7.50 to $55; and Micron Technology, up $9 to $105.

Among Internet stocks, DoubleClick rose $4.69 to $96.19, Cybercash gained $2 to $11.31, and Juniper Networks rose $8.06 to $278.69.

But there was profit-taking in bigger tech names. Apple Computer fell $2.81 to $122.88, Cisco Systems lost $4.06 to $132.06 and Intel fell $1.63 to $115.75.