MARKET CLOSE: Techs battle back

Technology stocks broke out of their slump Thursday as the Nasdaq composite hustled up 84 points to close at 4,097.63. The Dow Jones industrial average ended off 51 points to finish at 11,259.13.

"One major difference between today and the last two days is that we haven't had any major negative comments from any houses around the Street on tech bellwethers, so that's lifted the pall that had been cast,'' said Bryan Piskorowski at Prudential Securities.

Intel (INTC) shares closed up $1.73 to $67.44. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) picked up 94 cents to $32.94 and IBM (IBM) gained $1.94 to $133.38.

Shares of Read-Rite Corp. (Nasdaq: RDRT) surged up $2.75 to $10.56 after the company formed a new fiber optics subsidiary, Scion Photonics Inc., with $25 million in initial funding from Tyco Ventures and Integral Capital Partners.

Among widely held PC stocks, Dell (DELL) gained 69 cents to $40.19; Compaq (CPQ) added $1.50 to $32.88; Gateway (GTW) rose $2.70 to $64.90 and Apple Computer (AAPL) moved up $3.56 to $62.

Qwest Communications International Inc. (NYSE: Q) fell $2.75 to $48.75 after it raised its revenue and earnings targets for 2000 and 2001 Thursday as it continues the integration of US West. It also announced 12,800 layoffs, the sale of $1 billion in non-strategic assets and the launch of its Digital Media subsidiary.

Commerce One Inc. (Nasdaq: CMRC) picked up $7.81 to $70.50 after it and Intershop Communications announced they had formed a joint marketing and integration alliance surrounding electronic marketplace software and technology.

Amazon.com (AMZN) shares trimmed $2.38 a share to $43.50. Yahoo! (YHOO) lost $5.13 to $106.94 while America Online (AOL) and eBay (EBAY) closed up 56 cents and $1 a share, respectively. Lycos (LCOS) closed off 69 cents to $71.13.

CMGI (Nasdaq: CMGI) lost $3.50 to $43.19 after announcing it is reorganizing its business structure, dividing its operating companies and venture capital investments into six different business units.

Sun Microsystems (SUNW) rose $6.31 to $123.94 while Microsoft (MSFT) and Oracle (ORCL) gained 50 cents and $1.94 a share, respectively.