The Battle Road Tech Index™ rose 1.4 percent for the week ended April 17, 2009, closing at 1216. Year-to-date, the index is up 21.6 percent, having started at a value of 1000. For the week, 13 of the 25 Index components were in positive territory.

The following companies were notable movers for the week:

Nokia (NYSE: NOK) gained 8.5 percent over the week. The company on Thursday reported a 90 percent drop in first-quarter profit, but said it saw signs of stabilizing demand in the declining handset market. Cell phone makers have been suffering from a drop in consumer spending, reflected in Nokia’s handset sales in Q1, which were down nearly 20 percent from the prior year. Though selling prices fell 10 percent as well, the company reportedly maintained its market share, and gained traction in the smart phone market, gaining share against competitors Research in Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) and Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL).

Hewlett Packard (NYSE: HPQ) gained 5.4 for the week following PC market reports issued by research firms IDC and Gartner. Though global PC unit sales contracted by seven percent versus the prior year, the US market was surprisingly strong, with unit sales falling less than three percent. HP managed to grow overall shipments nearly three percent worldwide, and 11 percent in the US, allowing it to claim the top spot from Dell, which had held that position since 1999. Along with indications from Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) that the PC market may have bottomed out in the first quarter, this news seems to support the idea that tech spending may be starting to recover.

Shares of eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) fell 4.2 percent for the week. On Wednesday, the company announced that it would buy a 66 percent controlling stake in Gmarket (NASDAQ: GMKT), a leading South Korean e-commerce company, making eBay the leader in the country’s online shopping market. eBay will pay $24 per share, about a 50 percent premium over the last month’s trading range, in a deal totaling $1.2 billion. The announcement came just days after eBay said it plans to stage an IPO for its Skype unit. Though these actions seem to be the first steps in the company’s plan to refocus efforts on higher-growth opportunities, investors may be skeptical of the acquisition move, in light of the lack of synergy from eBay’s acquisition of Skype in 2005.