The Battle Road Tech Index™ barely eked out a gain of 0.2 percent for the week ended March 19, 2010, closing at 1718. For the week, 16 of the 25 Index components rose in value. Year-to-date, the index is up 2.3 percent, having started at a value of 1680.

eBay (EBAY), Activision Blizzard (ATVI), and Intel (INTC) were notable movers for the week:

eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY, $27.19) was up 4.7 percent this week. In the last month, eBay’s share price has risen nearly 20 percent. The company is expanding the presence of PayPal, its main Payments business, in Asia. The company formed a partnership this week with China UnionPay, the largest electronic payment provider in China to allow its customers to utilize PayPal to shop with overseas online merchants. Additionally, PayPal announced it would be adding 1,000 new employees in Asia, doubling its presence by the end of calendar 2010. There are rumors that PayPal, which as part of the company’s Payments division accounted for one third of revenues in the fourth quarter of 2009, will be spun out through an IPO, much as the company planned to do with Skype. We view this as unlikely, since PayPal has greater synergies with eBay than Skype.

Shares of Intel (NASDAQ: INTC, $21.99) gained 3.4 percent for the week. Semiconductor stocks have risen with positive data points from the PC industry – Gartner recently increased its forecast for PC unit sales to 20 percent growth in 2010. Intel’s Nehalem processor has also spurred a very strong server refresh, evidenced by impressive growth in x86 server sales over the past several months. Finally, utilization rates have rebounded to levels near 90 percent as semi wafer capacity drops, creating more favorable supply conditions throughout the industry.

Shares of Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI, $11.82) rose 3.1 percent this week driven by stronger than expected sales of the mega hit game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Modern Warfare 2’s expansion “stimulus” map pack was also announced this week. It will be released on March 30, and will cost 1,200 Microsoft Points or $14.99 per download. ATVI’s Starcraft II will be releasing a beta key for the Mac in April. The game has so far garnered stellar reviews from fans, industry insiders and critics. Beta keys for the game are currently going for upwards of $450 on eBay.