By Dan Gallagher, MarketWatch

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Tech stocks finished January on a mildly negative note Thursday, with Facebook Inc. claiming must of the day's attention due to negative investor reaction to its latest earnings report.

The Nasdaq Composite (RIXF) ended the day just barely below its breakeven line of 3,142 and finished the month up by 4%, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) slipped 0.3% and the Morgan Stanley High-Tech Index (MSH) also closed down by 0.1%.

Facebook (FB) ended up giving up almost 1%, to close at $30.98. Several brokers had downgraded the stock following the social network's fourth-quarter results, which included a forecast for heavy spending in 2013.

"With our earnings model totally recalibrating, it is time to take some profits and evaluate the likelihood of potential earnings upside in future quarters," Jordan Rohan of Stifel Nicolaus wrote as he cut his rating on the social network to hold from buy, leaving his $31 price target intact.

But others remained positive. Scott Devitt of Morgan Stanley bumped up his price target to $34 from $32, writing that the company "should be able to deliver ad revenue acceleration through [the first half of 2013] on easier comps."

BlackBerry, which still trades under the name Research In Motion (RIMM) , slid nearly 6% to close at $12.98. Credit Suisse downgraded the stock to underperform, a day after the company unveiled a new line of smartphones for its BlackBerry 10 operating system that will launch next month.

"Despite recent enthusiasm for RIM's new BB10 devices, we see limited scope for traction in the hypercompetitive smartphone market," wrote Kulbinder Garcha of Credit Suisse in a note to clients.

Shares of Take-Two Interactive Software (TTWO) fell nearly 7% to close at $12.17 after the company announced that it will release "Grand Theft Auto V" on Sept. 17. The launch of the highly anticipated sequel to the best-selling urban action franchise comes later in the year than the original planned spring release, "in order to allow additional development time," the company said in a statement. The title will be available for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles.

GameStop (GME) shares slid more than almost 2% on the news,but videogame publisher Electronic Arts (EA) rose 4.3%. The later release of GTAV may put the title against greater competition in the busy holiday selling season.

Fusion-io Inc. (FIO) fell 13% after its own quarterly report that included a downbeat forecast that the company blamed on slowing orders from major customers such as Apple (AAPL) and Facebook. At least three brokers downgraded the stock following the results.

Qualcomm (QCOM) closed with a gain of almost 4%, at $66.02, after the maker of wireless device chips delivered better-than-expected results and a positive forecast. Several analysts raised their price targets on the stock following the report.

Citrix Systems (CTXS) shares climbed more than 9% to end the day at $73.16 after the enterprise software maker reported a gain in earnings and issued a forecast that beat Wall Street's expectations. The stock was upgraded to a buy rating at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch.

JDS Uniphase (JDSUD) shares jumped by 17% to close at $14.51 following the company's results, which topped Wall Street's projections. Needham & Co. upgraded the stock to a buy rating.

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