By Rex Crum, MarketWatch

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Tech stocks showed some signs of life Tuesday, but the sector overall performed mildly on what was to be a shortened trading session ahead of the Christmas holiday.

U.S. stock markets are set to close at 1 p.m. Eastern and remain closed through Christmas on Wednesday.

Among leading tech stocks, Apple Inc. (AAPL) was off by $2.21 at $567.90 a share. On Monday, Apple said it reached a deal for Chinese mobile-phone giant China Mobile Ltd. (CHL) to begin offering the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c in January. Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook also sent an email to company employees in which he hinted at "big plans" for Apple next year.

Declines also came from Pandora Media Inc. (P), which fell 3.6% to $28.52 a share, as well as Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), Netflix Inc. (NFLX), eBay Inc. (EBAY) and Google Inc. (GOOG).

Advancers included Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ), Microsoft Corp. (MSFT), Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) and IBM Corp. (IBM).

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) was off by less than 1 point at 4,148, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) managed to eke out a small gain.

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