By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Tech stocks took to the high ground Friday, rising along with the broad market as investors were in a positive mood following a better-than-expected nonfarm payrolls report and shares of video game publisher Take-Two Interactive Inc. surged after the release of an upbeat earnings report.
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The U.S. Labor Department said that the economy lost 54,000 nonfarm jobs in August, signaling a slower decline than had been expected by analysts. See full story.
As trading progressed, the Nasdaq Composite Index /quotes/comstock/10y!i:comp (COMP 2,234, +33.74, +1.53%) rose 15 points to 2,215, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index /quotes/comstock/10y!i:sox (SOX 328.71, +5.39, +1.67%) and the Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index /quotes/comstock/10t!msh.x (MSH 551.22, +8.14, +1.50%) were both in positive territory.
Investors may have also been looking for deals, as U.S. markets will be closed Monday for the Labor Day holiday.
Gains came from the likes of Apple Inc. /quotes/comstock/15*!aapl/quotes/nls/aapl (AAPL 258.77, 0.00, 0.00%) , Microsoft Corp. /quotes/comstock/15*!msft/quotes/nls/msft (MSFT 24.29, 0.00, 0.00%) , Google Inc. /quotes/comstock/15*!goog/quotes/nls/goog (GOOG 470.30, 0.00, 0.00%) , IBM Corp. /quotes/comstock/13*!ibm/quotes/nls/ibm (IBM 127.58, 0.00, 0.00%) and Intel Corp. /quotes/comstock/15*!intc/quotes/nls/intc (INTC 18.43, 0.00, 0.00%) .
In the wake of Hewlett-Packard Co's /quotes/comstock/13*!hpq/quotes/nls/hpq (HPQ 40.34, 0.00, 0.00%) $2.4 billion victory over Dell Inc. /quotes/comstock/15*!dell/quotes/nls/dell (DELL 12.59, 0.00, 0.00%) in the battle to acquire 3Par Inc. /quotes/comstock/13*!par/quotes/nls/par (PAR 32.89, 0.00, 0.00%) , H-P shares rose 57 cents to $40.26 and Dell was up 13 cents a share at $12.49.
3Par /quotes/comstock/13*!par/quotes/nls/par (PAR 32.89, 0.00, 0.00%) rose 2 cents to $32.90, edging closer to H-P's $33-a-share offer for the data-storage company.
Rex on Techs: Dell's Farewell to Arms
Dell may have lost the war with Hewlett-Packard for data-storage firm 3Par, but the company has 72 million ways to lick its wounds and even fight another day. Rex Crum reports.
Video game publisher Take-Two /quotes/comstock/15*!ttwo/quotes/nls/ttwo (TTWO 9.50, 0.00, 0.00%) rose $1.02 a share, or almost 12%, to $9.89 following a surprise quarterly profit it reported on Thursday.
Take-Two said it earned $5.9 million, or 7 cents a share. Excluding one-time items, Take-Two would have earned $26 million, or 28 cents a share, on revenue of $354.1 million. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters had forecast Take-Two to lose 9 cents a share on $294.7 million in sales.
Take-Two said its sales were helped by the popularity of its "Red Dead Redemption" game, which was launched in May and has sold almost 7 million copies of the game. Take-Two also raised its estimates for the rest of its fiscal year. See full story.
Other video game publishers saw their shares rise, with gains from Electronic Arts Inc. /quotes/comstock/15*!erts/quotes/nls/erts (ERTS 16.46, 0.00, 0.00%) , THQ Inc. /quotes/comstock/15*!thqi/quotes/nls/thqi (THQI 3.58, 0.00, 0.00%) , Activision Blizzard Inc. /quotes/comstock/15*!atvi/quotes/nls/atvi (ATVI 11.21, 0.00, 0.00%) and video game retailer Gamestop Corp. /quotes/comstock/13*!gme/quotes/nls/gme (GME 19.01, 0.00, 0.00%) .
Rex Crum is a reporter for MarketWatch in San Francisco.
More Tech Stocks
| Sept. 2, 2010 | Tech stocks close with gains; H-P wins 3Par fight | |
| Sept. 1, 2010 | Apple's rise highlights broad tech gains | |
| Aug. 31, 2010 | Chip-stock losses lead weak month for techs | |
| Aug. 30, 2010 | Tech stocks weaken as M&A deals gain attention | |
| Aug. 27, 2010 | H-P-Dell battle over 3Par leads active tech action |
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