US tech stocks heading for volatile session

US technology stocks appeared headed for another volatile session in early trading as investors digested the impact of the nation's latest productivity and jobless-benefits reports.

The Nasdaq Composite, rattled by several consecutive days of losses, was down by 3.6 points at 1,649.25 but showed signs of inching back.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index and the Amex Networking Index were both up 0.3 percent.

The Internal Revenue Service proposed raising the Intel's tax liability by about US$600m, related to tax benefits the corporation got on export sales in 1999 and 2000. Intel's shares fell 9 cents to trade at US$24.05.

Microsoft lost 6 cents to US$25.60 after the European Union confirmed it intends to fine the software giant for improper business practices in Europe.

Elsewhere in the tech sector Dell, Sun Microsystems, Oracle, Hewlett-Packard and Cisco Systems were among the early decliners, gainers included Siebel Systems, EMC, Gateway, IBM and Applied Materials.