MARKET CLOSE: Techs move higher in light trading

Technology stocks moved higher in light trading Thursday as the Nasdaq composite gained 42 points to close at 4,053.24. The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 38 points to 11,182.74.

Despite the thin trading, investors have steadily pushed tech stocks higher in the past two weeks.

"Techs have gone from terrific to tepid," said Alan Ackerman, market strategist for Fahnestock and Co. "Essentially, this is still a pre-holiday market with light volume and not a lot of leadership or conviction. Rising energy prices have certainly been an intimidating factor."

Next Level Communications (Nasdaq: NXTV) plunged 49 13/16, or 54 percent on concerns that the company could lose a big customer.

Cysive (CYSV) plummeted 5 7/8 to 8 1/8 after forecasting weaker-than-expected third quarter sales and earnings.

Sun Microsystems (SUNW) edged up 1 1/16 to 127 3/4. Oracle (ORCL) added 1 13/16 to 84 11/16 and Microsoft (MSFT) added 3/8 to 71 1/8.

VA Linux (Nasdaq: LNUX) rose 6 7/8 to 44 as analysts praised its fourth quarter results.

Vicinity (Nasdaq: VCNT) lost 2 1/8 to 11 7/8 after it absorbed a downgrade from Bear Stearns and said losses and marketing expenses would increase over the next nine months. The company's fourth quarter results met analysts' estimates.

Yahoo! (YHOO) gained 6 to 139 13/16. America Online (AOL) rose 1 1/8 to 59 7/8 while eBay (EBAY) and Amazon.com (AMZN) closed up 3 9/16 and 9/16 a share, respectively. Lycos (LCOS) finished up 1 1/16 to 62 1/2.

Among widely held PC stocks, Dell (DELL) inched up 5/16 to 39; Compaq (CPQ) picked up 1/8 to 33 3/4; Gateway (GTW) rose 1 7/16 to 66 and Apple Computer (AAPL) finished up 1 25/32 to 56 3/32.