MARKET CLOSE: Techs gain while Dow unravels

Technology stocks showed signs of life Thursday as the Nasdaq Composite Index moved up 67 points to close at 1,897.71. Blue-chip stocks sustained heavy losses despite a rally in late trading.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed off 98 points to 9,389.48 after tumbling more than 300 points in early trading.

"This is about a market that is forecasting a recession," Gary Kaltbaum, a technical analyst at First Union Securities, told Reuters. "I know a lot of people are saying we are not in a recession, but remember 12 months ago people were saying technology was great and wasn't going anywhere but up."

Technology stocks snapped out of their recent malaise as bargain hunters picked up bellwether issues at or near 52-week lows.

Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) led chip stocks higher as it gained $3.13 to $28.69. Advanced Micro Devices (NYSE: AMD) added $2.96 to $26.25 and IBM (NYSE: IBM) closed up a penny to $89.09.

Among widely held PC stocks, Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) rose $1.56 to $26.25; Compaq (NYSE: CPQ) rallied up $1.11 to $19.26; Gateway (NYSE: GTW) moved up $1.26 to $16.86 and Apple Computer (Nasdaq: AAPL) finished up $1.44 to $21.56.

Liberate Technologies (Nasdaq: LBRT) gained 88 cents to $8 after topping expectations for the seventh straight quarter. Analysts also touted the interactive TV company as recession-resistant.

Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) tacked on $3.94 to $54 despite some bearish analyst remarks. Goldman Sachs' Rick Sherlund lowered estimates for the software giant's fiscal third quarter, adding that PC companies' warnings about slowing growth will affect the software giant.

Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) snapped out of its slump, adding 75 cents to $15.50. Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq: SUNW) picked up 50 cents to $18.88.

Corel (Nasdaq: CORL) inched up 6 cents to $2.06 after it said it will post a profit in its first quarter, two quarters ahead of the company’s scheduled return to the black.

Yahoo (Nasdaq: YHOO) tacked on $1.19 to $14.88 while Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) and eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) closed up 19 cents and $4.50 a share, respectively. America Online-Time Warner (NYSE: AOL) lost $1.07 to $36.77 and CMGI (Nasdaq: CMGI) gained 28 cents to $2.78.

GoTo (Nasdaq: GOTO) moved up 84 cents to $6.69 after telling investors it would surpass its previously announced revenue outlook and report a smaller-than-predicted loss for the first quarter.

Cisco Systems (Nasdaq: CSCO) managed to gain 44 cents to $19.75. Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU) trimmed 31 cents to $11.09 and Nortel Networks (NYSE: NT) ended up $2.04 to $18.19.

ZDII staff and Reuters contributed to this roundup.