The Night Watch: Ariba Keeps Partying

Buying spilled over into the extended session despite a paucity of late-breaking news to drive trading.

Volume was relatively healthy on Instinet, with over 13.5 million shares changing hands within half an hour of trading. Telecom carrier Level 3 Communications (LVLT Quote) was the most active issue on the platform, rising 2% to $5. Like many other telecom stocks, shares of Level 3 have fallen sharply over the past year due to slack demand and declining bandwidth prices.

Ariba (ARBA Quote) was another heavily traded winner on Instinet, gaining 0.6% to $5.4. IBM (IBM Quote) will offer Ariba's purchasing software as a paid-for service over the Internet. The software allows companies connect to suppliers to buy basic goods, such as office supplies and furniture, at much lower costs than traditional methods that rely on phone or fax.

CDW Computer (CDWC Quote), which sells computer products, rose 0.2% to $52.01 ahead of its entry into the Nasdaq 100 index on Monday. The shares will also be included in the Nasdaq 100 tracking stock, or QQQ (QQQ Quote), which lately gained 1.8% to $3950 on Island.

Meanwhile, tech bellwethers Intel, Oracle (ORCL Quote) and Dell (DELL Quote) inched higher, adding a penny and nickel respectively.

3Com (COMS Quote) fell 0.6% to $6.20 a day after Xerox (XRX Quote) won a patent infringement suit against the company. Xerox had sued U.S. Robotics, which was later acquired by 3Com, in April 1997 over a handwriting recognition technology marketed as Graffiti and used on Palm's (PALM Quote) handheld devices.

Palm, which is appealing the ruling, recently rose 3.5% to $3.59 on Island. Its stock has been rising since Wednesday when it posted a loss on a 44% drop in revenues, but said it plans to launch a range of new products in 2002.