TECH STOCKS: Apple, Amazon Lead Broad Tech Gains

By Rex Crum, MarketWatch

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. were among the tech stocks on the rise Thursday, as the sector saw broad gains and awaited earnings results from Oracle Corp. after the close of trading.

Apple (AAPL) shares rose 42 cents to $102 as reports said Apple will hold an event on Oct. 21 to unveil new models of the iPad and iPad mini, and release the next version of its Macintosh operating system, called Yosemite.

Amazon (AMZN) was up by $1.46 a share at $325.03 after the company revamped its line of Kindle and Fire tablets, including a 6-inch screen Fire HD for $99, a new Fire HD Kids Edition for $149 that comes with a two-year guarantee, and the Kindle Voyage e-reader for $199 that has free 3G cellular-network connectivity.

Oracle (ORCL) shares rose 50 cents to $41.64 ahead of the software giant's fiscal first-quarter results, due after the market close. Analysts surveyed by FactSet have forecast Oracle to earn 64 cents a share, excluding one-time times, on $8.78 billion in revenue. During the same period a year ago, Oracle earned 59 cents a share on sales of $8.38 billion.

Gains also came from Facebook Inc. (FB), Twitter Inc. (TWTR), Netflix Inc. (NFLX) and Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ).

The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF), which includes many leading tech stocks, rose almost 25 points to 4,587, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) was up by 1%.

Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires