By Rex Crum

Technology stocks continued to gain ground in afternoon trading Tuesday, with the sector's action highlighted by Emerson Electric Co.'s $1.2 billion acquisition of networking-equipment company Avocent Corp.

Emerson (EMR) said the all-cash deal values Avocent (AVCT) at $25 a share, a 22% premium over the stock's Monday closing price of $20.52 a share. Avocent makes hardware and software that companies used to manage data centers and counts Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) among its customers.

Avocent shares rose $4.33 to $24.85, while Emerson's stock added 64 cents a share to trade at $39.31.

Another of Avocent's customers, Brocade Communications Systems (BRCD), saw its shares rise 23 cents to $9.33. Reports surfaced on Monday saying the maker or network routers and switches has put itself up for sale, and that Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ) may be a potential buyer.

H-P shares rose 58 cents to $46.65.

Among other leading tech stocks, gains came from Apple Inc. (AAPL), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Dell Inc. (DELL), Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO), Intel Corp. (INTC) and IBM Corp. (IBM).

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) rose 30 points to 2,097, while the Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) rose 1.6% and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) climbed 1.7%.