MARKET CLOSE: Bargain hunting ignites Dow, techs

Bargain hunters gobbled up beaten down technology stocks Thursday as the Nasdaq composite shot up 122 points to 3,777.89. The Dow Jones industrial average stormed up 196 points to close at 10,824.43.

Part of the rally can be attributed to fund managers doing a little end-of-the quarter window dressing.

"The perception has to be that there is a whole lot of value out here, some stocks are extremely oversold. There have got to be a lot of money managers out there that are chomping at the bit," said Charles Payne, head analyst at Wall Street Strategies.

Cisco Systems (CSCO) picked up $2 to $59.31 and Nortel Networks (NT) gained $3.37 to $62.99 despite a downgrade from Sanford Bernstein.

Exodus Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: EXDS) fell $4.13 to $49.13 after it confirmed it will buy a stake in the GlobalCenter subsidiary of Global Crossing Ltd. (Nasdaq: GBLX), up $2 to $31.88, for around $6.1 billion.

Vastera (Nasdaq: VAST) rose $3.25 to $17.25 in its debut, after the company, which provides import/export consulting to businesses through an online database, priced its 6 million shares at $14 for trading Thursday. Shares priced above their upwardly revised range of $11-$13.

Intel (INTC) shares moved up 63 cents to $44.50. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) added 88 cents to $24.88 and IBM (IBM) closed off 25 cents to $117.75.

Among widely held PC stocks, Dell (DELL) gained $1 to $33.44; Gateway (GTW) shot up $6.86 to $55.90; Compaq (CPQ) rose $1.65 to $30.80 and Apple Computer (AAPL) ended up $4.56 to $53.50.

Yahoo! (YHOO) recovered from Wednesday's sell-off, moving up $5.31 to $95.69. Lycos (LCOS) gained $2.83 to $70.25 while Amazon.com (AMZN) and eBay (EBAY) closed up $2.13 and $5.63 a share, respectively. America Online (AOL) picked up $1 to $54.50.

WebMD (Nasdaq: HLTH) closed up $2/75 to $14 after it gave investors their first peek at the company's long awaited restructuring plans. The company said the first phase of its cost-cutting will eliminate 1,100 jobs by the end of calendar 2001, consolidate operations and divest two stray subsidiaries.

Paradyne Networks (Nasdaq: PDYN) dropped $4.09 to $5.91 after it said that it will miss third quarter estimates due to reduced customer orders.

Microsoft (MSFT) gained 69 cents to finish at $61.31 while Oracle (ORCL) and Sun Microsystems (SUNW) moved up $1.61 and $5.69 a share, respectively.