Sector movers: ARM lifts tech sector higher after two US deals

22nd Jul 2013 15:25

Chip designer ARM Holdings was providing a lift to the technology sector on Monday after a pair of new deals, as stocks rebounded following some heavy falls the session before.Sentiment across the global technology industry was hit on Friday by disappointing quarterly results from Wall Street heavyweights Google and Microsoft which both missed consensus forecasts for revenue and profit.ARM was up 1.0% at 906.5p by 15:46 today after announcing on its website that it has signed a multi-year agreement with US business hardware and software systems firm Oracle to further optimise the existing Java Platform for ARM 32-bit platforms and to add Java support for ARMv8 64-bit platforms. ARM said the deal will provide ARM architecture support for key markets including data centres, network infrastructure and embedded computing.The company also reported that NASDAQ-listed wireless solutions group Entropic has licensed the ARM Mali graphics processing unit (GPU) technology and extended a licence for the Cortex-R5 processor for more advanced media and connectivity processing across its connected home ecosystems.Tech peers Wolfson Microelectronics, Spirent Communications and CSR were also making gains today after a sector-wide sell-off the previous session.IQE, the semiconductor wafer group, was also performing well ahead of its first-half trading update on Wednesday.Top performing sectors so far todayTechnology Hardware & Equipment 1,075.17 +0.73%Electronic & Electrical Equipment 3,885.49 +0.67%Tobacco 37,899.24 +0.66%Chemicals 9,771.98 +0.64%Fixed Line Telecommunications 3,884.84 +0.61%Bottom performing sectors so far todayPersonal Goods 24,033.92 -1.36%Electricity 10,178.43 -1.07%Automobiles & Parts 7,909.68 -1.05%Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology 11,368.33 -0.93%Mobile Telecommunications 4,488.70 -0.88%BC