MARKET CLOSE: Techs end week with sharp gains

Technology stocks closed out the week with solid gains Friday as the Nasdaq composite hustled up 89 points to finish at 3,966.12. The Dow Jones industrial average picked up 50 points to end at 10,447.89.

After retreating in the wake of the Fed's decision to leave interest rates unchanged, investors jumped back into the market ahead of the holiday weekend.

"Yesterday they took a beating, so basically today undoes most of the damage of yesterday," said Michelle Clayman of New Amsterdam Partners. "It's quarter-end so ... there may be some last-minute window dressing, people wanting to show some of the exciting names in their portfolio."

Internet stocks enjoyed decent gains Friday as Yahoo (YHOO) moved up 4 9/16 to 123 7/8 while eBay (EBAY) and America Online (AOL) gained 2 5/8 and 15/16 a share, respectively. Lycos (LCOS) trimmed 3/16 to 54 and Amazon.com (AMZN) closed off 13/16 to 36 5/16.

AT&T (NYSE: T) fell 5/8 to 31 5/8 on reports it may issue tracking stocks for its core consumer long-distance phone and cable TV businesses. SBC Communications (NYSE: SBC) shed 2 11/16 to 43 1/4 after it announced the FCC will allow it to sell service in its home state, Texas.

UTStarcom (Nasdaq: UTSI) moved up 7 1/4 to 30 3/8 after announcing the Chinese government has finished reviewing its products and will begin to implement them.

Verio (Nasdaq: VRIO) slid 4 1/32 to 55 15/32 after NTT Communications, a unit of Japan's NTT said on Friday it has not decided whether to take up its right to extend the period of its takeover bid for the company.

Compaq Computer (NYSE: CPQ) lost 1/8 to 25 9/16 after issuing a statement defending itself against a downgrade Thursday. Gateway (GTW) shed 1 19/32 to 57 while Apple (AAPL) and Dell (DELL) rose 1 1/18 and 1 a share, respectively.

Among widely held networking stocks, Cisco Systems (CSCO) rose 2 3/8 to 63 9/16; Nortel Networks (NT) inched up 5/32 to 68 1/4 and Lucent Technologies (LU) closed up 2 1/4 to 58 3/4.

Microsoft (MSFT) moved up 2 13/16 to 80. Oracle (ORCL) picked up 3 3/16 to 84 1/16 and Sun Microsystems (SUNW) finished up 3 1/8 to 90 15/16.

Intel (INTC) closed up 1 15/16 to 133 11/16. IBM (IBM) tumbled 4 7/16 to 109 9/16 and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) closed up 1 to 77 1/4.