Altera - Worst Performing Semiconductor - Mid-Day Update

Published on Thursday, 02 February 2012 11:52 Written by Christian Paolinetti

New York, February 2nd (TradersHuddle.com) - The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index is trading higher at $423.11, representing 1.04% from its previous close. The semiconductor index is having a broad rally with 24 index components trading higher.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:BRCM) is the top performer of the semis, trading at $37.13, which represents 8.09%. from the previous trading session. Shares of Broadcom, the provider of chips that enable broadband digital data transmission have defined support at $34.02 and resistance at $36.12.

MKS Instruments (NASDAQ:MKSI) is also among the top performers, currently trading at $33.88 representing 7.13% from its previous close. MKS Instruments, the provider of instruments and components used to measure, control, analyze and isolate gases in semiconductor and other manufacturing processes has calculated support and resistance levels at $27.33 and $30.74 respectively. The other top performer of the semis is MEMC Electronic Materials (NYSE:WFR), which is trading at $5.07 representing 4.73% from the previous trading session.

The semis' worst performers include Altera (NASDAQ:ALTR) that is trading at $39.61 or -0.45% from the previous close. Shares of Altera, the maker of programmable logic devices have defined support at $38.27 and resistance at $41.32. Also among the worst performers is STMicroelectronics (NYSE:STM), which is currently trading at $6.99 representing -0.29% from the previous trading session.

Today, the Semis are outperforming the broad market index S&P 500.