Tech Winners & Losers: Activision Blizzard

Tech stocks were mostly up Thursday, along with the major market indices, with video games publisher Activision Blizzard(ATVID Quote) posting one of the strongest gains.

Shares of the newly renamed Activision Blizzard were up $1.96, or 6.5%, to $32.09, a day after the company closed its merger with Vivendi Games and said the combined company expects to exceed its earlier guidance. Activision and Vivendi Games had announced the deal in December 2007.

Shares of Nokia(NOK Quote) were up 69 cents, or 2.8%, to $25.58. The company has closed its $8.1 billion acquisition of mapping data supplier Navteq.

AT&T(T Quote) gained 73 cents, or 2.3%, to $32.85, a day before Apple's(AAPL Quote) 3G iPhone will go on sale nationwide. An 8-gigabyte version of the phone has been priced at $199 with a two-year contract; and the 16-GB device will cost $299. AT&T is the exclusive carrier for the iPhone in the U.S.

Shares of Apple were up $2.09, or 1.2%, to $176.34.

Cisco(symbol Quote) added 52 cents, or 2.5%, to $22.11 after Citi Investment Research analyst Paul Mansky said Wednesday's selloff in the stock has been overdone. The recent pullback is a time for long-term investors to accumulate shares, said Mansky in a note.

AMD(AMD Quote) shares lost a penny, or 0.2%, to $5.05. Earlier in the day, the shares skimmed their five-year low at $4.90. AMD will report its quarterly earnings next week amid fears that demand for microprocessors is weakening as the market for PCs softens.