NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Technology stocks bounced up and down but finished higher Tuesday after the Federal Reserve sounded a fresh note of caution on the labor market at the conclusion of a policy-setting meeting that left interest rates untouched at four-decade lows.
The tech-laced Nasdaq composite index closed 3.89 points, or 0.2 percent, higher at 1,943.09, while the Philadelphia Stock Exchange semiconductor index rose 5.30 points, or 1.1 percent, to close at 477.04.
The Fed announced at 2:15 p.m. ET that the central bank's policy-making arm opted to keep the target for the Fed funds rate, an overnight bank lending rate, at 1 percent, a more than 40-year low, in line with most economists' expectations.
Nortel Networks Corp. shares erased a sharp drop to climb into positive territory in heavy trading, a day after the suspension of its two top finance executives sent its stock tumbling.
Nortel (NT: Research, Estimates), one of the world's largest telecom equipment makers, was the most active stock on the New York Stock Exchange for a second straight session, rising 13 cents, or 2.5 percent, to $5.37
Shares of Mamma.com Inc. (MAMA: Research, Estimates) rose more than 28 percent Tuesday, extending a rally that has doubled the stock's price over the past month.
The sharp gains for the Montreal-based Web search company came a day after Mark Cuban, who owns the Dallas Mavericks professional basketball team, reported to securities regulators that he owned a 6.3 percent stake in the company.
The volatile stock was the percentage leader on the Nasdaq on midday volume of over 14.5 million shares, more than three times the average in the past three months.
Cuban made his fortune by selling Broadcast.com to Yahoo Inc. (YHOO: up $0.82 to $42.57, Research, Estimates) in 1999, near the peak of the Internet boom. He also runs HDNet, which offers programs in high-definition formats for satellite and cable TV distributors.
Shares of Copper Mountain Networks Inc. (CMTN: up $0.94 to $10.55, Research, Estimates) also finished sharply higher Tuesday after the company said it has signed a deal with Ericsson to develop faster wireless networks and make equipment for the cell phone maker.
Among some of Nasdaq's most-active issues, Microsoft (MSFT: up $0.02 to $25.18, Research, Estimates) rose 0.1 percent while Oracle Corp. (ORCL: up $0.04 to $11.70, Research, Estimates) gained 0.3 percent. Shares of Cisco Systems (CSCO: up $0.34 to $23.12, Research, Estimates) and Intel Corp. (INTC: up $0.06 to $27.16, Research, Estimates) both swung higher.
Hewlett-Packard (HPQ: up $0.08 to $21.79, Research, Estimates) and Sun Microsystems (SUNW: up $0.04 to $4.20, Research, Estimates) also finished on the upside. And on the NYSE, International Business Machines (IBM: up $0.63 to $92.45, Research, Estimates) gained 0.7 percent.
-- from staff and wire reports
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