THE board of Hewlett-Packard has ousted chief executive officer Carly Fiorina after five years in which the company’s shares fell more than 50%.

US stocks sagged today in a bout of profit-taking, but blue chips fared better than they might have otherwise as shares of Dow Jones component Hewlett-Packard surged following the ousting of CEO Carly Fiorina.

A US judge has cleared Hewlett-Packard of allegations that the company acted improperly over the Compaq Computer Corporation acquisition, probably paving the way for the completion of the high-tech industry’s biggest merger.