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Date Posted: 18:34:32 11/24/00 Fri
Author: x
Author Host/IP: c263155-b.valpo1.in.home.com / 24.14.162.97
Subject: x

11/24/2000 Tech Shares Rally on Holiday Buying Spree

By Elizabeth Lazarowitz

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rallied on Friday as deeply discounted technology stocks flew off the shelves on what is traditionally the start of the holiday shopping season.

Investors returned from the Thanksgiving holiday with a hearty appetite for high-tech stocks, rescuing a sector that witnessed five straight losing sessions due to worries over dwindling profits and election jitters.

The rally came one session after tech stocks closed at a 13-month low.

``It's a day to go shopping,'' said George Rodriguez, head of trading at investment firm Guzman & Co. ``You're not just shopping in the malls, you're shopping in the market.''

The Nasdaq Composite Index (^IXIC - news) ended up 148.90 points, or 5.4 percent, at 2,904.24.

The U.S. stock market had an abbreviated Friday session that ended at 1 p.m. EST (1800 GMT) following Thursday's Thanksgiving holiday when the market was closed.

But volume was strong on the Nasdaq, with more than 800 million shares changing hands, which is close to share volumes for a full trading session.

The Dow Jones industrial average (^DJI - news) also gained with the help of its high-tech components, climbing 70.91 points, or 0.68 percent, at 10,470.23.

The broader Standard & Poor's 500 Index (^SPX - news) rose 19.4 points, or 1.47 percent, at 1,341.76.

Shares of the world's biggest maker of computer networking equipment, Cisco Systems (NasdaqNM:CSCO - news) and No. 2 software maker Oracle Corp. (NasdaqNM:ORCL - news) led the way on the Nasdaq. Cisco jumped $2-2/16 to $52-11/16, and Oracle rose $1-13/16 to $24-1/8.

Financial services giant J.P. Morgan (NYSE:JPM - news) advanced the blue-chip gauge with a jump of $4-3/16 to $142-3/16.

International Business Machines (NYSE:IBM - news) was among the Dow 30's best performers, climbing $1-7/16 to $99-15/16. Hewlett-Packard (NYSE:HWP - news) climbed $1-14/16 to $35-9/16.

IBM, H-P, and the Nasdaq's Sun Microsystems Inc. (NasdaqNM:SUNW - news) all got a boost after research firm Dataquest said European shipments of large computers that manage corporate networks and Web sites rebounded in the third quarter.

Sun Microsystems, which makes the computers that power the Internet, rose $4-7/8 to $84-7/8.

Intel Corp. (NasdaqNM:INTC - news) also gained, rising $2-12/16 to $43-15/16. Intel lifted both the Nasdaq and the Dow average and underpinned the beleaguered semiconductor sector. The Philadelphia Stock Exchange's semiconductor index (^SOXX - news) vaulted almost 9 percent higher.

On Wednesday, the Nasdaq closed at 2,755.34, a level not seen since October, 1999, as the ongoing battle for the White House and worries about dwindling profits cast a pall over Wall Street.

``There was such a rout on Wednesday in everything, including the telecommunications stocks, that these markets are just reacting a bit to the upside,'' said James Volk, co-director, institutional trading at D.A. Davidson and Co.

Web companies like Commerce One (NasdaqNM:CMRC - news), up $6-15/16 to $39-1/4, and Ariba Inc. (NasdaqNM:ARBA - news), up $10-51/6 at $78-7/16, on Friday rebounded from recent declines.

Wall Street followed in the footsteps of the European markets, which were underpinned Thursday and early Friday by strength in recently battered telecommunications shares like France's Alcatel (CGEP.PA) (NYSE:ALA - news). Alcatel's U.S.-traded shares gained more than 12 percent, up $5-7/8 at $52-1/2.

The question of who will become the next U.S. president continued to be a cloud overhanging the market as the battle for ballots in the key state of Florida dragged on.

``Monday will be interesting, because we'll have more news on the political front on Sunday,'' said Michelle Clayman, chief investment officer at New Amsterdam Partners LLC. ``If it looks as if there's going to be some kind of resolution to this electoral mess, then the market could continue to recover nicely.''

Florida elections officials are set to certify the result of the Nov. 7 presidential poll at 5 p.m. (2200 GMT) on Sunday. After a machine recount of the state's six million votes, Bush led Gore by a 930-vote margin.

The Florida Supreme Court (news - web sites) dealt a blow to Democrat Al Gore (news - web sites)'s bid for the White House on Thursday when it rejected an emergency petition from his campaign to force Miami-Dade County to finish a full hand-recount of votes from the election.

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