MARKET CLOSE: Tech stocks rally

Technology stocks rebounded Thursday, pushing the Nasdaq composite up 97 points to 3,960.17. The Dow Jones industrial average trimmed 2 points to close at 10,481.12.

"There's a little bit of bargain-hunting in the technology sector,'' said Alan Skrainka, chief market strategist at Edward Jones, adding that Wall Street was beginning to rethink Wednesday's harsh reaction to the chipmaker downgrades.

Investors will pay close attention to Friday's jobs report as most analysts are expecting it to show the employment market tightened compared with May and that average hourly wages rose at a faster pace.

Cisco Systems (CSCO) moved up 2 7/8 to close at 64 3/4 while Lucent Technologies (LU) and Nortel Networks (NT) fell 2 3/16 and 2 a share, respectively. 3Com (COMS) lost 7/16 to end at 57 1/8.

New Era of Networks Inc. (Nasdaq: NEON) gained 1 9/16 to 40 5/8 after the company said it anticipates revenue of about $50 million for the quarter ended June 30.

CapRock Communications Corp. (Nasdaq: CPRK) fell 6 to a 52-week low of 11 15/16 after announcing it will take a loss in its second quarter due to the absence of an anticipated $30 million contract for the sale of dark fiber.

IBM (IBM) fell 3 3/8 to 101 5/8 after Bear Stearns cut its second-quarter earnings estimates to 97 cents a share from the $1.02 a share previously forecast.

Among widely held PC stocks, Dell (DELL) added 5/16 to 47 3/4; Compaq (CPQ) trimmed 3/16 to 24 13/16; Apple (AAPL) rose 1/8 to 51 3/4 and Gateway (GTW) closed off 11/16 to 56 3/4.

Microsoft (MSFT) rose 2 7/16 to 80 15/16 while Sun Microsystems (SUNW) and Oracle (ORCL) shot up 1 and 3 5/16 a share, respectivley.

Visual Networks (Nasdaq: VNWK) plunged 14 1/4 to 12, becoming the latest technology issue to tank after warning its second quarter will be worse than expected.

Intel (INTC) moved up 5 to 136 5/8 and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) picked up 2 to 77 1/4.

Yahoo! (YHOO) gained 1 9/16 to 122 3/4. America Online (AOL) rose 1 9/16 to 56 1/8 while eBay (EBAY) and Lycos (LCOS) tacked on 7/16 and 3/8 a share, respectively. Amazon.com (AMZN) closed off 7/16 to 51.