The Battle Road Tech Index™ rose 2.3 percent for the week ended September 18, 2009, closing at 1539. For the week, 19 of the 25 Index components rose in value. Year-to-date, the index is up 54 percent, having started at a value of 1000.

The following companies were notable movers for the week:

Yahoo! (NASDAQ: $17.39) rose 11.6 percent this week, following the sale of its one percent stake in Hong Kong-traded Alibaba.com. The company generated HK$1.1 billion (roughly US$140 million) from the sale, and retains a 39 percent stake in the untraded parent company of Alibaba.com, the Alibaba Group. Yahoo! was able to generate a substantial amount of cash while still retaining its lucrative stake in the Alibaba Group, thereby maintaining liquidity and the vast majority of its Chinese equity assets.

Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX, $47.40) shares rose by 11.1 percent on the heels of Blockbuster’s (NYSE: BBI, $1.36) disclosure that it would close up to 960 stores this year and next, in concert with an ongoing review of its operations designed to avert bankrupcy. Fewer available DVD rental stores benefits Netflix and other online purveyors of DVDs and movie content since consumers will have fewer brick and mortar alternatives from which to choose.

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL, $185.02) shares rose by 7.5 percent, possibly in reaction to mixed sales results from competitor Palm Computing (NASDAQ: PALM), which indicated that it had sold over 800,000 units of its relatively new PalmPre smartphone. The number stands in contrast to the more than five million phones that Apple sold last quarter. There is also increasing chatter about Apple’s forthcoming tablet PC, which could begin shipping in the next few months.

Shares of Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL, $21.62) fell 5.4 percent this week after the company reported earnings on Wednesday evening. The software giant reported a decline in new license sales of 14 percent or $1 billion. While the software industry has struggled with new product sales through the downturn, there is an expectation of stability now as we look to a 2010 recovery. Oracle’s August 31 quarter is seasonally weak, but investors remain wary of declining revenue.