By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc.
were among the notable tech stocks to advance Friday as much of the
sector tried to come back from following the broader market into
the red.
Microsoft (MSFT) shares rose 2%, to $33.50 following a report in
the AllThingsD blog that said Ford Motor Co. (F) Chief Executive
Alan Mulally is a top candidate to replace Microsoft CEO Steve
Ballmer. In August, Ballmer said he would retire from Microsoft
within a year.
Yahoo (YHOO) climbed 2.4%, to $33.53 after the company threw its
weight behind the proposed partnership structure for the Chinese
e-commerce company as it prepares to hold an IPO valued at up to
$15 billion. Yahoo is the second-largest shareholder in Alibaba,
with a 24% stake in the company.
Among other tech-sector leaders, small gains came from
Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ), Facebook Inc. (FB) and Micron Technology
Inc. (MU).
Several tech companies that went public in the past two days
also garnered attention from investors.
RingCentral Inc. (RNG) shares soared more than 41%, to $18.35,
after the developer of cloud-based communications systems made its
public debut Friday. RingCentral priced 7.5 million shares at $13 a
share, which was at the high end of its pricing range of $11 to $13
a share.
Montage Technology Group Ltd. (MONT) climbed 25%, to $16 a
share, and added to its 28% gain from Thursday when the fabless
chip company started trading at $10 a share.
Covisint Corp. (COVS) was up more than 2%, at $12.60 a share. On
Thursday, the engagement-software company went public after pricing
6.4 million shares at $10 each.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) trimmed its early
losses, but was still down 5 points at 3,781. The Philadelphia
Semiconductor Index (SOX) was down 0.5%.
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