Dow, Nasdaq Manage Higher Close

Updated from 4:03 p.m. EDT

Tech stocks outperformed blue-chips during what proved to be a choppy session, but all three major U.S. averages managed to close higher Friday.

The

Dow Jones Industrial Average ended with a gain of 14.74 points, or 0.1%, to 10,190.82. The

Nasdaq rose 30.95 points, or 1.8%, to 1756.19, and the

S&P 500 added 7.32 points, or 0.7%, to 1111.01.

The averages opened to the upside but fell below their session highs by late morning. The Dow visited both sides of the flatline, and the Nasdaq retreated to just above the break-even level before moving higher.

After bailing out all day Thursday, investors came back to

IBM

(IBM) - Get Report

after the close, following news that

an SEC probe into the computer giant's accounting had in fact been concluded. The shares had hit a 52-week low of $83.34 during regular trading in the previous session on a report that the probe was still ongoing.

Once the full story came out, by way of a rare statement from the SEC, which normally doesn't comment on the status of investigations, shares of IBM began to trade higher. Friday, they finished up 1.7% to $85.60.

General Electric

(GE) - Get Report

, like IBM a Dow component, failed to mount its own comeback

after a selloff on Thursday. The stock climbed earlier in the day, but ended lower by 0.6% to $33.55.

Other big losers from the prior session bounced back on the last trading day of the week.

Nokia

(NOK) - Get Report

and

AOL Time Warner

(AOL)

, both of which were knocked down Thursday by what was believed to be heavy institutional selling, gained ground Friday. Nokia was up 4.2%, and AOL rose 2.6%.

One federal investigation that isn't over involves

Computer Associates

(CA) - Get Report

, the Islandia, N.Y., software company whose strange accounting has drawn the ire of investors and analysts alike. According to

The Wall Street Journal

, the Justice Department and the SEC are jointly investigating whether the company improperly boosted its financial results with an eye to propping up stock awards to its top three executives.

The company has since dropped the accounting technique, which investigators reportedly believe might have allowed the company to book too much upfront revenue on software sales. CA was traded up 0.6% to $21.18.

Among other names,

Mercury Interactive

(MERQ)

skyrocketed after the company easily surpassed

first-quarter earnings estimates. The software maker earned a pro forma 14 cents a share in the period, 4 cents ahead of estimates. The shares climbed 24.7% to $36.70.

The price of crude fell Friday after the ouster of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez by senior military leaders. The coup followed three days of street protests triggered by Chavez's attempt to pack the state oil company with political appointees. Venezuela is OPEC's third-largest oil producer, and Chavez was instrumental in getting the country to limit its production, so his sacking has been bearish for oil prices.

The turnaround in oil prices came too late to salvage Friday's report on

producer prices. Higher oil prices boosted the index by 1%, the largest increase in 14 months and slightly ahead of the consensus 0.7% expectation. Excluding food and energy, the PPI rose 0.1%, as expected.

Meanwhile, the Commerce Department said

retail sales rose 0.2% in March, slightly below the consensus estimate of 0.4%, which was matched if you leave out car sales.

Another report showed that U.S. consumers weren't quite as optimistic in early April as they have been, according to latest

sentiment reading from the University of Michigan. The index fell to 94.4 from 95.7 in March, as weakening stock prices and Middle East violence worried consumers. Analysts were expecting the measure to rise to 96.8 this month. The final Michigan sentiment report will be released at the end of the month.

Treasuries rose. The 10-year note was up 12/32 to 97 28/32, yielding 5.15%. Short-term notes and the long bond were also being bid up.

Markets in Asia were lower on the heels of Thursday's bloodletting on Wall Street, with Japan's Nikkei losing 1.7% overnight to 10,963 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropping 0.3% to 10,710. European shares were stronger. The FTSE 100 rose 0.5% to 5161 and Germany's Xetra DAX was up 0.5% to 5190.