Apple, semis decline as sector retreats

The tech sector slipped into the red Friday, as shares of Apple Inc. dipped on reports that it has stopped selling the iPhone 4S in Beijing temporarily as the company was met with unruly customers.

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iPhone 4S sales halted in Beijing

A brawl broke out outside the flagship Apple Store in Beijing, as hundreds lined up to buy the company's latest smartphone.

Semiconductor stocks also highlighted the retreat, as major chip shares posted losses ahead of a three-day weekend for financial markets.

Apple AAPL ?dipped 0.4% to close at $419.81, as the sector kept pace with a retreat in the broader market. Wall Street reacted to, among other bearish developments, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. JPM ?lower fourth-quarter profit. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA ?shed 49 points.

The Nasdaq Composite Index COMP ?moved down 0.5% to close at 2,711. However, the benchmark wrapped up the week with a 1.4% gain.

The Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index MSH ?was also lower, down 1%, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index SOX ?fell 2%.

The chip segment��s decl! ine feat ured slumping shares of Intel Corp.INTC , Advanced Micro Devices Inc. AMD ?and Nvidia Corp. NVDA ?

/quotes/zigman/123472 NDX 2,371.98, -10.01, -0.42%
/quotes/zigman/1468249 SOX 383.47, -8.28, -2.11%
/quotes/zigman/6015481 MSH 610.22, -6.18, -1.00%

The semiconductor group��s still outpacing the broader tech sector on optimism that the industry will see stronger demand in the next few quarters.

But Caris & Co. analyst Craig Ellis counseled caution, saying in a Friday note: ��Cyclically, numerous companies thought [the firs! t quarte r of 2012] would mark an order bottom, though tellingly no company had seen an order rebound yet, so the coast is not yet clear.��

Hardware makers such as Hewlett-Packard Co. HPQ ?and Dell Inc. DELL ?traded in the red as well.

However, software giants Oracle Corp ORCL ?and Microsoft Corp. MSFT ?rebounded to post fractional gains.

Also on the upside, shares of Netflix Inc NFLX ?added 2.4% to $94.38. U.S.-listed shares of SAP AG SAP ?moved up 2.5% to close at $54.56 after the company reported better-than-expected results for the fourth quarter and 2011.