MARKET PREVIEW: Techs in for sleepy opening

A few deals may rouse techs again Tuesday, though their rally shows signs of petering out. Asian and European markets were mixed, and the Dow is set to open flat to slightly higher.

U.S.

A couple of deals may attract attention Tuesday; fiber-optic equipment maker Sycamore Networks (Nasdaq: SCMR) said it is buying privately-held Sirocco Systems, for about $2.88 billion.

Telecommunications equipment company Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU) announced two new partnerships in Asia. One with China Unicom, the company which has been wavering over is agreement with Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM), will make Lucent the preferred vendor for the Chinese telecommunications company. Lucent also struck a deal with Japanese computer maker Fujitsu Ltd to develop infrastructure for next-generation communications networking in Asia.

Keep an eye on AOL, Electronics For Imaging, KLA-Tencor, Microsoft and Sycamore Networks in Tuesday's trading session.

Technology stocks made slight gains Monday as the Nasdaq composite moved up 8 points to 3,821.73 while the Dow Jones industrial average added 21 points to close at 10,815.30.

At the Bell

The Dow Jones industrial average may open about 10 points higher. The Standard & Poor's 500 index for June futures contracts was up 1.3 to 1471 at 7:31 a.m. EST in 24-hour electronic trading.

The Inter@ctive Week @Net Index was down 5 to 485.45.

Asia

Trading in Asia was mixed. The Nikkei 225 fell 0.18 to 17,170, Singapore's Strait Times index rose 0.97 percent to 2,001 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 3.78 percent to 15,861.

Europe

European markets were also moving in different directions. London's FTSE 100 rose 0.17 percent to 6,557. The CAC 40 in Paris slipped 0.43 percent to 6,627 and the DAX in Frankfurt was down 0.45 percent to 7,374 at 7:10 a.m. EST.

Reuters contributed to this report.