By Rex Crum, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Tech stocks closed Friday with
broad gains, as most the sector advanced along with the broader
market and Apple Inc. prepared to for its first stock split in nine
years.
While most leading tech stocks ended the week on a positive
note, Apple (AAPL) actually fell by $1.78 a share at $645.57 after
earlier reaching a 52-week-high of $651.26. On Monday, the iPhone
maker will implement a 7-for-1 stock split, which will be the first
time Apple has split its stock since 2005.
Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) rose almost 2% to close at $329.67 a
share as interest grew about invitations that Amazon sent to a
company event on June 18. Speculation suggests Amazon may be about
to launch its own smartphone.
Online professional-services referral company Angie's List Inc.
(ANGI) climbed 11% to $11.21 a share. Bank of America Merrill Lynch
analyst Paul Bieber on Friday raised his rating on the stock to buy
from neutral after what he said was positive comments made by Chief
Executive Bill Oesterie at a B. of A. tech conference.
Netflix Inc. (NFLX) edged up by $1.78 a share to close at
$430.13 as the second season of the Internet video-streaming
company's original series "Orange Is The New Black" made its debut
Friday.
Other gains came from IBM Corp. (IBM), Yahoo Inc. (YHOO), Intel
Corp. (INTC) and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT).
The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) rose 25 points to close at
4,321, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) edged into
positive territory with a small gain.
More tech news from MarketWatch:
Apple's next big thing is its stock split
Amazon mimics Apple in hyping upcoming event
Microsoft tells feds to stop hacking data centers
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