LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) � Shares of Microsoft Corp. largely held steady in the after-hours trading session Friday following a dayside jump as investors embraced the software maker�s quarterly results.
Late-traded Microsoft MSFT �shares were up 2 cents to $29.73, with heavy volume putting the shares in their usual spot at the top of Nasdaq�s list of the most-actively traded evening issues. The shares briefly pulled back to $29.29.
The shares ended the regular session up 5.7%, marking their first close above the $29 level since May 2010.
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Friday�s rally kicked off late Thursday after Microsoft said fiscal second-quarter net earnings were $6.62 billion, or 78 cents a share, on $20.89 billion in revenue. Analysts surveyed by FactSet Research had been looking earnings of 76 cents a share on $20.9 billion in revenue.
Analysts on Friday still cautioned about the company�s future prospects as weakness is expected to linger in the PC market. Read more about Microsoft's results.
Late-traded shares of International Business Machines Corp. IBM �slipped 0.6% to $187.45. They closed the day session up 4.4% following the company�s report late Thursday of higher fourth-quarter earnings and a hike in its yearly profit estimate.
The share-price gains in Microsoft and IBM helped pushed the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA �higher, but they weren�t enough to keep the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP �from losing a bit of ground as Google Inc. GOOG �shares were hit. The online search company�s rise in fourth-quarter earnings fell short of Wall Street�s expectations. Google closed dayside trading down 8.4% at $585.99. See more about Friday's action in Tech Stocks.
The Nasdaq Composite Index ended down 1.6 points at 2,786.70. The Dow rose 97 points, or 0.8%, to 12,720.48 and the S&P 500 Index SPX �turned less than 1 point higher to 1,315.38.
The indexes each finished the week up by more than 2%. Read about U.S. stocks in Market Snapshot.
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