By Benjamin Pimentel, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — The tech sector battled back into positive territory Monday, aided by gains in shares of Research In Motion Ltd.
Research In Motion /quotes/zigman/18534/quotes/nls/rimm RIMM +2.81% saw its U.S.-listed shares add 3% after the company announced a "launch event" for its new BlackBerry 10 mobile operating system.
/quotes/zigman/68270/quotes/nls/aapl AAPL 543.20, -3.86, -0.71%
In a statement, RIM said it will host the Jan. 30, 2013, event in several countries and unveil details of two new BlackBerry smartphones.
The platform is considered a "make-or-break" launch for the company whose BlackBerry smartphones have struggled against rivals led by Apple Inc. and Samsung.
On the downside, Microsoft /quotes/zigman/20493/quotes/nls/msft MSFT -1.49% shed nearly 1% after Chief Executive Steve Ballmer told the French daily Le Parisien that the company's new Surface tablet was selling "modestly." Microsoft ranked as the top decliner in a choppy session for the Dow Jones Industrial Average /quotes/zigman/627449 DJIA +0.21% .
HTC settles patent fight with Apple
Taiwanese handset producer agrees to pay licensing fees to Apple as part of settlement with the maker of the iPhone.
Pacific Crest Securities analyst Brendan Barnicle also said in a Sunday note that sales of the Surface — widely seen as Microsoft's bid to expand its presence in the mobile computing market — "are slowing a bit," citing "a downtick in demand."
Meanwhile, shares of Apple /quotes/zigman/68270/quotes/nls/aapl AAPL -0.71% edged higher earlier in the session on news of a broad licensing agreement with HTC Corp. /quotes/zigman/301560 TW:2498 +6.86% to end patent-related legal disputes.
But the stock was last trading down a fraction at $546.86.
In a note, Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu said, "We believe Apple is likely getting a net licensing fee due to its much stronger patent portfolio and we think position as undisputed inventor of the modern smart phone with touchscreen."
The Nasdaq Composite Index /quotes/zigman/123127 COMP +0.17% turned positive, rising 8 points to stand at 2,913. The Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index /quotes/zigman/6015481 MSH +0.05% and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index /quotes/zigman/1468249 SOX +0.10% were each up a fraction.
/quotes/zigman/1468249 SOX 370.07, +0.38, +0.10%
Also Monday, the chip sector got a lift from KLA-Tencor Corp. /quotes/zigman/74396/quotes/nls/klac KLAC +3.53% , shares of which added more than 3% after RBC Capital upgraded the semiconductor capital equipment company to outperform from underperform.
"We expect KLA-Tencor to maintain its leading market share and resultant pricing power," RBC Capital analyst Mahesh Sanganeria said in a note.
However, shares of Nvidia Corp. /quotes/zigman/80597/quotes/nls/nvda NVDA -2.67% and SanDisk Corp. /quotes/zigman/54370/quotes/nls/sndk SNDK -1.80% were the red. Nvidia traded down 2.6%, while SanDisk gave up 1.3%.
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