NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Stocks staged a late-session rally Thursday, led by technology, as investors shook off the morning's inertia and scooped up a variety of shares.

The Nasdaq composite (up 20.45 to 2,051.70, Charts) rose 1 percent. The broader Standard & Poor's 500 (up 9.40 to 1,200.20, Charts) index gained 0.8 percent and the Dow Jones industrial average (up 75.00 to 10,748.79, Charts) rose 0.7 percent.

Trading was choppy for most of Thursday's session, with the major gauges rangebound amid the morning's weaker reads on durable goods orders and jobless claims, and fluctuating oil prices.

But stocks jumped higher in the mid afternoon, led by gains in technology, a recently beaten-down sector, and managed to hold those gains in late trade.

The turnaround was a combination of a number of factors, said Tim Heekin, head of stock trading at Thomas Weisel Partners. He cited the impact of low attendance on Wall Street -- due to many children having the week off from school -- trading floor rumors that a big brokerage might upgrade the semiconductor sector, and a continued bounce back after Tuesday's steep decline.

"You had this huge down move on Tuesday, you gained half of it back yesterday, and more of it today," Heekin added. "Semis and energy are leading, while Internet and media are some of the weakest performers.

In particular, the highly influential semiconductor sector bounced after a few down sessions. The Philadelphia Semiconductor (up 10.13 to 434.15, Charts) index, or the SOX, gained 2.4 percent.

However, gains were broad-based, with 23 out of the 30 blue chips that comprise the Dow industrials rising.

Market breadth was positive. On the New York Stock Exchange, winners beat losers by eleven to five as 1.51 billion shares traded hands. On the Nasdaq, advancers beat decliners by three to two on volume of 2.04 billion shares.

Among Thursday's stock movers, homebuilders were stronger, with the sector continuing to bounce after Toll Brothers (up $3.10 to $87.35, Research)' higher-than-expected earnings and improved forecast Wednesday.

The Dow Jones Home Construction (up $43.53 to $888.44, Research) index added more than 5 percent.

Dow stock Boeing (up $1.22 to $53.94, Research) rose more than 2 percent after Irish budget airline Ryanair said that it placed an order for 140 Boeing 737-800 series aircraft.

Fellow Dow stock Exxon Mobil (up $1.71 to $61.13, Research) popped nearly 3 percent, bouncing along with a number of other energy stocks. The Philadelphia Oil Services (Charts) index added 1.25 percent.

Other Dow gainers included Altria (up $0.84 to $65.19, Research) and Caterpillar (up $2.70 to $93.16, Research).

The tech-heavy Nasdaq managed to recover from earlier Internet-led weakness, thanks to gains in select sectors, including chips and software.

Additionally, digital video recorder TiVo (up $0.10 to $4.48, Research) rallied for the second day on speculation that the company is a potential takeover target, with Apple Computer (up $0.70 to $88.93, Research) as a possible suitor.

The Internet sector remained weak after brokerage RBC Capital downgraded Internet leaders Yahoo! (down $0.64 to $31.48, Research) and Google (down $5.06 to $188.89, Research), and cut price targets on the stocks.

Ciena (down $0.27 to $2.13, Research) lost another 11.25 percent, tumbling for the second session, after the telecom reported a narrower quarterly loss, on profit margins that disappointed some analysts.

Among other movers, power producer Calpine (down $0.17 to $3.26, Research) fell nearly five percent in active New York Stock Exchange trade after reporting a wider-than-expected quarterly loss versus a year-ago profit.

Viacom (down $0.89 to $35.28, Research) fell after the media conglomerate reported a much wider fourth-quarter loss, weighed down by an $18 billion non-cash impairment charge at its radio and billboard advertising units.

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose last week to 312,000 from an upwardly revised 303,000 the previous week. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com thought claims would rise to 308,000.

Durable goods orders fell 0.9 percent in January, versus expectations for a rise of 0.1 percent. Orders rose 1.1 percent in December.

U.S. light crude oil for April delivery rose 22 cents to settle at $51.39 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Oil had traded close to $52 a barrel in the morning before the inventory news, released at around 10:30 a.m. ET. Crude inventories rose less than expected, but natural gas and distillates, including heating oil, clocked in at better-than-expected levels.

Treasury prices dipped, lifting the 10-year note yield up to 4.28 percent, from 4.26 percent late Wednesday. Bond prices and yields move in opposite directions.

In currency trading, the dollar traded higher versus the euro and the yen.

COMEX gold fell 40 cents to settle at $435.70 an ounce.

In global trade, Asian stocks ended lower, and European shares ended the session flat.