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Market Close: Cisco leads techs higher

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p>Wall Street took the resignation of Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin in stride Wednesday as technology stocks resumed their recent run-up. The Dow shed 26 points to end at 11,000.37 while the Nasdaq added 39 points to close at 2,605.99.

The indexes treaded water for much of the day after Rubin said he would step down on July 4, replaced by Deputy Secretary Lawrence Summers. Rubin was responsible for the bailout of Mexico and the U.S.'s present strong dollar economic policy.

"At first it took the market by surprise, but people soon realized that there probably will be no net change in monetary policy,'' said Doug Myers, vice president of equity trading at Wachovia Securities.

Cisco Systems Inc.'s (Nasdaq: CSCO) strong third-quarter earnings report served as a rallying point for the tech sector. On Tuesday, Cisco topped analysts' expectations by a penny a share. It closed up 6 7/8 to 188 _ as investors pounced on yet another 2-for-1 stock split.

Fellow network-equipment makers Ascend Communications Inc. (ASND) and 3Com Corp. (COMS) gained 3 1/2 and 1/8 a share, respectively.

Internet stocks were more of a mixed bag Wednesday.

Lycos Inc. (LCOS) hustled up 8 3/4 to 107 after USA Networks Inc. (Nasdaq: USAI) formally announced its exit from its proposed merger with the portal. Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) fell 4 1/16 to 169 15/16 and America Online Inc. (AOL) dropped 2 15/16 to close at 138 1/2.

Infoseek Corp. (SEEK) shed 2 to 51 7/8. Excite Inc. (XCIT) rose 4 to 162 1/2 and Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) lost 5 7/16 to 142 15/16.

ITurf Inc. (TURF) shot up 4 7/16 to 36 1/16 after inking a 2-year deal with AOL to feature the company's sites on the online service's properties.

Portal Software Inc. (PRSF) stormed up 9 3/8 to 41 after Cisco announced its $39 million investment in the online billing and customer management software company.

Broadcom Corp. (BRCM) picked up 3 15/16 to 96 5/8 after unveiling a communications chip for high-speed data transmission using copper lines. Intel Corp. (INTC) inched up 3/16 to 62 ? and IBM Corp. (IBM) shot up 3 7/8 to 224 7/8.

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) picked up 1/2 to 80 3/8 and Sun Microsystems Inc. (SUNW) moved up 4 13/16 to 65 1/8.