A look at recent 52-week highs and 52-week lows points to weakness in semiconductor chip stocks and China investments, and strength in high yield dividend stocks across a variety of sectors.

The strength of divided investments is no surprise, as investors seek out low risk and high yield. That has caused a flood of money into utility stocks, telecoms and other picks with good quarterly paydays.

Chipmakers have suffered recently due to poor earnings, but as for the trouble in China it seems to be more a question of management and bookkeeping than of profits and losses.

Here’s a rundown of the recent highs and lows from the week and what they are saying about the market:

Highs Say Buy Dividends

Utilities setting new highs this week include Southern Company (NYSE: SO), Progressive Energy (NYSE: PGN) and Alliant Energy (NYSE: LNT), among others. These companies pay dividends that yield between 4.4% and 5.7%, so investors are profiting twice by these picks.

• Southern company has a 52-week range of $30.85 to $37.27. It consolidated today after setting a new high Thursday.
• Progressive Energy has a range of $36.67 to $44.05, and also set a new high Thursday before drawing back today.
• Alliant Energy has a range of $25.86 to $36.37. It too set a high yesterday and rolled back.

Why utilities? Well it’s more a general unease on Wall Street driving buying pressure than particularly impressive numbers for utes. There’s aren’t exactly explosive growth stocks, after all. A closer look other highs reveals that in general the low-risk, high-yield sectors are winning out right now as investors load up on shares.

• In telecom, Qwest (NYSE: Q) yields 5.5%. The stock is at the top of its $3.35 to $5.90 range after a new high today.
• In tobacco, Philip Morris (NYSE: PM) busted out topped out today with a new high of $54.87. That’s after a low just under $43 in June.
• Oil Trusts: Mesabi Trust (NYSE: MSB) yields a whopping 10.5% but share prices have offered a nice payday too. The range of MSB stock is $9.27 to $31.47 in the last year, with Mesabi setting a new high yesterday and flirting with another Friday.

Lows Say Sell Chips

Chip stocks had a rough go of it this week. National Semiconductor (NYSE: NSM), ON Semiconductor Corp. (NASDAQ: ONNN) and Silicon Laboratories, Inc. (NASDAQ: SLAB) all set new lows recently.

• NSM touched a new low of $11.84 today, slipping nearly -5% after issuing a disappointing revenue forecast for the current quarter. Its 52-week high is $16.02.
• Caris & Co. analyst Craig Ellis cut his rating on ONNN to “Above Average” from “Buy” early in the week, and continuous bad news in the semiconductor sector held back shares. ON Semiconductor bottomed out at $6.07 today, with a 52-week high of $9.12.
• Silicon Laboratories warned this week that demand has fallen more than expected. SLAB hit $34.10 Thursday, and although it came close to a new low again today it didn’t set one. The 52-week high for SLAB stock is $53.17.

Lows Say Sell China

Other trends among stocks hitting 52-week lows were Chinese equities, as a number of fairly noteworthy China stocks bottomed out across a variety of sectors. Those picks include luxury products maker Fuqi International (NASDAQ: FUQI), Chinese telecom Asiainfo (NASDAQ: ASIA), China pharma play China Sky One Medical (NASDAQ: CSKI) and China health food company China Biotics (NASDAQ: CHBT). It’s worth noting that most stocks here have not been posting ugly profits so much as suffering from problems with management or tussles with the SEC.

• Fuqi International gave up -27% this week on news of an SEC investigation relating to financial filings. The Chinese jewelry stock bottomed out at $4.51 yesterday, though it bounced back slightly in trading today. The high end of FUQI’s 52-week range is $32.68.

• Asiainfo hit a new low of $16.44 early today, compared with a 52-week high of $32.60. Management headlines, including the CEO’s sale of 120,000 shares at the end of August and the recentresignation of the CFO, are in part behind the sell-off.

• China Sky One reported earnings this week, and CSKI cut its outlook for 2010. That resulted in a sell-off to a new 52-week low of $6.51 today. The high end for CSKI stock is $25.45.

• China Biotics was given a bad rap by a Citron Research report that, among other things, points to “gross discrepancies between the company’s SAIC and SEC filings.” CHBT set a new low of $9.80 in early trading Friday, but bounced back a bit by the closing bell. The 52-week high for China Biotics is $19.74

As of this writing, Jeff Reeves did not own a position in any of the stocks named here.