NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Chip stocks and dot.coms held on to their gains Monday as the tech-rich Nasdaq composite index made a concerted effort to reach the 5,000 milestone, but then pulled back in a flurry of late-day profit taking.
The Nasdaq, which was up for the better part of the day and came within 20 points of the 5,000 mark in early afternoon trading, ended the session 9.94 lower at 4,904.85, as the broader markets headed sharply lower.
Analysts attributed the pull-back primarily to interest-rate fears spurred by remarks Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan made at a conference at Boston College Monday.
"I guess investors are buying into the theory that technology stocks are more immune to interest rates," said Guy Truicko, portfolio manager at Unity Management in Garden City, N.Y.
Meanwhile, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD: Research, Estimates) passed a milestone of its own Monday, officially rolling out a PC microprocessor that operates at 1 gigahertz, or 1 billion cycles per second, once again overtaking its larger rival, Intel (INTC: Research, Estimates).
AMD shares added 6-1/8 to 47-5/8, a 14.8 percent gain on the day. Meanwhile, Intel slipped 1-7/8, or 1.6 percent, to 117-3/8.
Overall, chip-related companies escaped the late-day selling Monday.
The Philadelphia Stock Exchange's semiconductor index, or Soxx, which measures the performance of chip makers as well as the companies that make the equipment used in semiconductor manufacturing, rose 32.45 to 1,243.79, a 2.7 percent gain on the day.
One of the biggest chip movers was PMC-Sierra (PMCS: Research, Estimates), which on Friday announced two acquisitions aimed at expanding its presence in the market for chips used in broadband networking. PMC-Sierra shares rose 29-3/8, or 14.6 percent, to 230-3/8 in volume more than twice its average.
Boosting the company on Monday was Credit Suisse First Boston analyst Charlie Glavin, who raised his price target to 250 and reiterated a "strong buy" rating, saying he viewed the acquisitions "very positively."
Warburg Dillon Read analyst Greg Mischou also upped his price target on PMC-Sierra to 250, reiterating his "buy" rating.
QLogic (QLGC: Research, Estimates) also posted sharp gains Monday, rising 19-1/2, or 12.6 percent, to 174-15/16.
Other chip gainers Monday included Broadcom (BRCM: Research, Estimates), up 2-7/8, or 1.2 percent, at 235-3/4; Conexant Systems (CNXT: Research, Estimates), rising 8 to 101-11/6, an 8.5 percent rise on the day; and Sandisk (SNDK: Research, Estimates), up 17-3/16, or 16 percent, at 124-7/8. Motorola shares added 5-5/16 to 180-5/8, a 3 percent rise on the day.
Chip makers heading lower Monday included: Texas Instruments (TXN: Research, Estimates), which slipped 3-11/16 to 183-15/16, a 2 percent decline on the day; Altera (ALTR: Research, Estimates), off 3 at 94; Xilinx (XLNX: Research, Estimates), which slid 1-7/8, ending the session 2.3 percent lower at 81-1/4; and ST Microelectronics (STM: Research, Estimates), fell 3-15/16 to 209, a 1.9 percent decline.
Among chip-equipment companies, Applied Materials (AMAT: Research, Estimates) shares slid 6-3/4, or 3.5 percent, to 184. Novellus (NVLS: Research, Estimates) added 1-7/16 to 64-1/4, a 2.3 percent rise on the day. Asyst (ASYT: Research, Estimates) slid 9/16 to 48-7/16. Photronics gained 1-3/18, or 3.1 percent, finishing at 45-1/8.
Computer hardware makers lag
Computer equipment makers ended Monday's session mostly lower. The Goldman Sachs computer hardware index edged down 1.81 to 578.46.
Shares of Palm (PALM: Research, Estimates), which made its much-awaited debut last Thursday, continued to fall, ending the day 17-1/8 lower at 63-1/8, a 21.3 percent decline. The company, which makes the popular "Palm Pilot" handheld computers, was priced at 38 a share and rose as high as 165 before beginning to slide.
Meanwhile, shares of 3Com (COMS: Research, Estimates), which had spun off its Palm unit, also stumbled, ending Monday's session down 13-13/64 at 69-55/64, a 15.9 percent decline on the day.
Hewlett-Packard (HWP: Research, Estimates) shares added 7-1/8, or 5.1 percent, to 145-3/4. Dell Computer (DELL: Research, Estimates) rose 1/2 to 46-3/4, a 1 percent gain on the day. Meanwhile, the Hewlett-Packard spinoff, Agilent Technologies (A: Research, Estimates), soared more than 40 percent, rising 43-1/4 to 151-1/4 after the company unveiled new technology that makes the transmission of voice, data and video more efficient over optical networks.
Also, Compaq (CPQ: Research, Estimates) shares edged up 1/8 to 28.
PC makers on the downside Monday included: Gateway (GTW: Research, Estimates), down 4-1/8 at 65-1/2, a 5.9 percent decline; IBM (IBM: Research, Estimates), off 4-3/4, or 4.4 percent, at 103-1/4; Micron Electronics (MUEI: Research, Estimates), which fell 15/16, ending the session 6.5 percent lower at 13-9/16; and Apple Computer (AAPL: Research, Estimates), which ended the session down 2-1/2, or 2 percent, at 125-1/2.
Computer network-equipment giant Cisco Systems (CSCO: Research, Estimates) edged down 1-9/16 to 135-7/8. Cisco rival Lucent Technologies (LU: Research, Estimates) rose 2-1/2, or 3.5 percent, to 73-1/2, while Nortel Networks (NT: Research, Estimates) shares added 9-1/2 to 130, a 7.9 percent gain on the day.
Dot.com's stay afloat
Internet stocks ended mostly higher Monday, sending the Dow Jones composite Internet index up 15.64, or 3.3 percent, to 492.09.
Among the big winners there, Web portal Yahoo! (YHOO: Research, Estimates), soared 13-9/16, or 8.6 percent, to 171-9/16, ahead of its analysts meeting later this week.
 Internet venture-capital concern CMGI (CMGI: Research, Estimates) charged up 12-15/16, or 9.7 percent, to 147, driven by its Alta Vista subsidiary's announcement that it will cut Internet access fees in Britain.
Web auctioneer eBay (EBAY: Research, Estimates) climbed more than 8 percent, ending 12 higher at 161-1/2. Meanwhile, eBay competitor uBid (UBID: Research, Estimates) rose 3-7/16 to 37-1/2, a 10 percent gain on the day.
Exodus (EXDS: Research, Estimates) rose 8-1/8 to 166-1/8, a 5.1 percent gain. Credit Suisse First Boston initiated coverage on the company Friday with a "strong buy" recommendation and a 12-month price target of 210. "We believe the company has the right strategy to continue its market dominance," said analyst Tim Newington. "With its focus on managed services, the company is generating one of the highest revenue per customer in the industry."
Internet stocks ending lower Monday included: America Online (AOL: Research, Estimates), down 1 at 56-5/8, a 1.4 percent slide; Internet advertising outfit DoubleClick (DCLK: Research, Estimates), which slipped 5-11/16, or 5.9 percent, to 91-7/16; business-to-business e-commerce provider OpenMarket (OMKT: Research, Estimates), off 2-15/16 at 55-3/4, a 5 percent decline on the day; and online toy seller eToys, which edged down 1/8 to 14-1/8. 
--From staff and wire reports
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