Sina, Apple, Dell: Tech Premarket

This story has been updated with Foxconn's response.

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Sina (SINA) was a big gainer in premarket trading on Wednesday, lifted by the company's better-than-expected fourth-quarter results.

The Chinese Internet firm beat Wall Street's top- and bottom-line estimates and delivered solid guidance. Buoyed by the results, Sina shares rose 8.45% to $58 before market open.

Apple (AAPL) shares, however, dipped 0.76% to $456.50. On Wednesday , The Financial Times reported that Apple's manufacturing partner Foxconn has implemented a recruitment freeze at its Chinese factories as it slows production of the iPhone 5.

Foxconn, however, says that the recruitment slowdown has nothing to do with the iPhone 5. "Due to an unprecedented rate of return of employees following the Chinese New Year holiday compared to years past, our company has decided to temporarily slow down our recruitment process," explained a spokeswoman, in an email to TheStreet. "This action is not related to any single customer and any speculation to the contrary is false and inaccurate."

Apple has yet responded to TheStreet's request for comment on this story.

Tech research firm Strategy Analytics, however, reported that Apple's iPhone 5 overtook Samsung's Galaxy S3 during the fourth quarter to become the world's best-selling smartphone.

Shares of Dell (DELL), which beat Wall Street's estimates in its fourth-quarter results on Tuesday, slipped 0.04% to $13.81.

The No. 3 PC maker didn't provide guidance for the first quarter of fiscal 2014, citing the recent announcement to take the company private.

Vodafone (VOD) shares dipped 1.5% to $24.95 before market open, while chip design specialist ARM Holdings (ARMH) gained 0.09% to reach $43.81.

Shares of Sony (SNE), which is expected to launch its PlayStation 4 game console on Wednesday evening, gained 0.2% to reach $14.68.

--Written by James Rogers in New York.

Follow @jamesjrogers

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