Apple, Cisco, RIM highlight tech gainers

The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP
+2.32% climbed more than 55 points, or 2.3%, to
close at 2,460, while the Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index MSH
+3.09% and the
Philadelphia Semiconductor Index SOX
+3.10% each rose more than 3%.

But the bullish session was overshadowed by a high-profile spat between the chief executives of Oracle Corp. ORCL
+2.86% and Salesforce.com Inc.
CRM
-0.30%

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff claimed that his planned presentation of his was taken off the agenda at Oracle’s annual OpenWorld conference in San Francisco. Oracle claimed Benioff’s speech wasn’t a keynote address and had been moved to Thursday.

However, Benioff, who has recently taken some shots at Oracle’s Larry Ellison over the concept of cloud computing, said he had been dropped entirely from the OpenWorld schedule, and instead held court Wednesday morning at a hotel near Oracle’s convention site. Read more about the Oracle-Salesforce dispute.

Oracle shares rose almost 3% to close at $29.51, while Salesforce shares dipped less than 1% to end the day at $117.25.

Apple AAPL
+1.54% shares rose $5.75, or 1.5%, to $378.25, regaining ground lost in the
previous session, when the launch of its iPhone 4S failed to create a buzz.