Markets end hectic week with a yawn

The Nasdaq composite index rose 22.42 to 4,963.03 after gaining more than 160 points this week. The Dow Jones industrial average edged down 7.14 to close at 11,112.72, ending a week in which it gained more than 500 points with a whimper.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 11 cents to 1,527.46, and the CNET tech index gained 22.88 to close at 3,540.66, led by shares of E*Trade and Ameritrade Holding.

Winners edged out losers, with 55 of the 100 stocks in the index rising, 42 falling and three remaining unchanged.

Of the 18 sectors tracked, Internet retailers posted the sharpest gains, rising about 7 percent. Semiconductor stocks were the day's largest losers, dropping 1 percent.

Intel closed down $3.56 at $139.06, while Microsoft inched lower by 19 cents to finish at $111.69.

The initial public offering of Silicon Laboratories, an integrated circuit maker, was the largest percentage gainer on the Nasdaq Stock Market, rising $40.25, or 129 percent, to $71.25 on a volume of more than 6.8 million shares.

Among members of the CNET tech index, E*Trade and Ameritrade posted strong gains.

E*Trade rose $4.13, or 14 percent, to $32; Ameritrade gained $2.31, or 10 percent, to $24.25. An analyst at US Bancorp Piper Jaffray raised his earnings estimates on the stocks.

Shares of eBay rose $20.19, or 9 percent, to $243.75 on reports that the company has renewed merger talks with Yahoo, which rose $3 to $194.

Hewlett-Packard fell $4.88 to $142.38. CEO Carly Fiorina said she expects the company to post an increase in sales for the current year.

National Semiconductor fell $2.94 to $65.13. Competitor IBM announced that it will make chips for TV set-top boxes to compete with National Semi's products. IBM rose $6 to $121.25.

The Emachines IPO fizzled on Wall Street. The shares closed at $8.25, down from their offering price of $9.

The Philadelphia semiconductor index rose 2.38 to 1,287.50, led by chip equipment maker Applied Materials, which rose $4.38 to close at $106.81.

Multiple Zones International, a direct marketer of personal computers, was another big percentage gainer on the Nasdaq. The shares jumped $5.44, or 93 percent, to $11.25. Volume topped 28.5 million shares. The company announced that it will become a major supplier to Microsoft.