The Night Watch: Evening Bargain Hunters Scoop Up Tech Issues

(Updated from 6:57 p.m. EST)

Big-hearted investors picked up downtrodden technology stocks in tonight's extended trading session, taking many of them in from the cold.

After dropping 109 points to 2598 on Thursday and closing below 2600 for the first time since Aug. 12, 1999, the

Nasdaq Composite Index posted a 47.3 point gain to finish at 2645.2 today, giving beaten down tech a bit of much-needed relief. Still, the Comp is down nearly 50% since last March. For the week, the Nasdaq finished behind 8.9%.

On the night watch, shares of

Intel

(INTC) - Get Report

, climbed back 2.4% on

Instinet

and edged up 2% on

Island

, having tumbled more than 10% during the day.

Networking giant

Cisco

(CSCO) - Get Report

tacked on 1.5% on Instinet to its 1.3% daytime increase, while software honcho

Microsoft

(MSFT) - Get Report

erased its regular session 1.3% loss with gains of more than 2% on Instinet and Island.

WorldCom

(WCOM)

added 1.6% on the after-hours market. But fellow telecom issue

Ericsson

(ERICY)

did not fare as well in after-hours trading: It dropped 1%. Both stocks gained more than 7% amid today's Nasdaq upswing.

Investors were less kind to

NorthPoint Communications Group

(NPNT)

, which shed 47% to 53 cents on Island. Earlier this week, the company said it would explore "legal remedies" against

Verizon Communications

(VZ) - Get Report

, which backed out of an agreement to purchase a controlling stake in NorthPoint.

This information is provided by Instinet, a wholly owned subsidiary of Reuters (RTRSY) . For further information, please contact Instinet at www.instinet.com.

Island ECN, owned by Datek Online, offers trading, mainly in Nasdaq-listed stocks, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. EST.

Confused?

TheStreet.com

explains how the rules change when the sun goes down in Investing Basics: Night Owl, a section devoted to after-hours trading.