By Rex Crum Tech stocks added to the previous day's gains Thursday, as Hewlett-Packard Co. claimed victory over Dell Inc. in the fight to buy 3Par Inc. Dell (DELL) said it would not raise its final offer for 3Par, ending discussions about acquiring the data-storage technology company. Dell's statement came after H-P (HPQ) raised its bid for 3Par to $33 a share, or $2.4 billion, before the market opened. 3Par (PAR) said in a statement that Dell (DELL) had increased its offer for the company to $32 a share from $27 a share, but that 3Par had determined H-P's offer to be "a superior proposal." 3Par shares rose 69 cents, or 2%, to $32.77, while H-P added 25 cents a share to $39.46. Dell rose 14 cents a share to $12.26. Apple Inc. (AAPL) gave up 83 cents a share to $249.36 a day after the company unveiled a revamped line of iPods, new features for its iTunes stores, and a new version of its Apple TV set-top box that the company believes will give it a better presence in consumers' living rooms. Among other tech stocks, gains came from Adobe Systems Inc. (ADBE), Yahoo Inc. (YHOO), Google Inc. (GOOG) and Intel Corp. (INTC). The Nasdaq Composite Index (RIXF) rose 10.5 points to 2,187, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) was up almost 1%. The Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index (MSH) edged up slightly. The tech sector rose along with the broader market following a slate of economic data released before the market opened. The Labor Department reported that the number of people applying for unemployment benefits fell last week by 6,000 to 472,000. However, first-time claims still remained at a high level. Also, the Labor Department said that productivity levels of American businesses fell by almost 2% in the second quarter of the year.
