TECH STOCKS: Apple, Amazon Lead Broad Tech Gains

By Rex Crum, MarketWatch

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch)--Tech stocks put in a broad slate of gains Thursday, with bellwethers Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. among the advancers as investors awaited the final pricing of the Alibaba Group IPO.

Apple (AAPL) shares edged up by 21 cents to close at $101.79 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) rose $1 a share to end the day at $325 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 41 cents to close at $41.55. After the market closed, Oracle said Chief Executive Larry Ellison was stepping down to become the company's executive chairman and chief technology officer. Ellison is being replaced by co-presidents Safra Catz and Mark Hurd.

Oracle also reported a fiscal first-quarter profit of $2.2 billion, or 48 cents a share, on revenue of 48.6 billion. Excluding one-time items, Oracle would have earned 62 cents a share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had forecast Oracle to earn 64 cents a share.

Investors also awaited the final pricing of Alibaba's (BABA) share in advance of the company's expected public debut Friday.

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 31 points to close at 4,593, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) rose 1.5%.

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