The technology-heavy Nasdaq rose on Monday as investors put aside worries about the economy to take advantage of beaten-down prices.

Wall Street sought to halt four days of losses as one technical measure indicated stocks were oversold. The Dow and S&P 500 traded near flat.

There are value players out there ready to nibble, said Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Equity Markets in Jersey City, New Jersey. But Kenny said the trend was still lower, with investors wary about taking more risk.

Cisco Systems Inc gained 2.9 percent to $21.98 after falling last week on a disappointing revenue forecast.

The PHLX semiconductor index <.SOX> rose nearly 1 percent, while its relative strength index hit its lowest point since November 2008 on Friday. The RSI, which determines whether stocks are oversold or overbought, fell to 31.4, right above the oversold indicator at 30, indicating a security or index was relatively cheap.

The index also traded below its lower Bollinger band on Friday, pointing again to an oversold condition. The Bollinger is a technical measure used by traders to show the highs or lows of a price, relative to previous trades.

Among leaders on the PHLX, Intel Corp rose 1.7 percent to $19.48.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was down 9.76 points, or 0.09 percent, at 10,293.39. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> was down 0.72 points, or 0.07 percent, at 1,078.53. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> was up 8.33 points, or 0.38 percent, at 2,181.81.

Last week, U.S. stocks posted their worst performance in six weeks after a downbeat assessment of the economy from the U.S. Federal Reserve.

In the latest sign the recovery may be lagging expectations, U.S. homebuilder sentiment unexpectedly fell for a third straight month in August to its lowest level since March 2009, according to an industry survey.

Lowe's Cos Inc rose 2.4 percent to $20.05 after the home improvement chain said it expects same-store sales to rise about 2 percent for the fiscal year. Some analysts saw the forecast as a good sign, given persistently soft U.S. consumer sentiment.

Japan's economy grew at just 0.1 percent in the second quarter, below forecasts. The tepid data pressured Asian equities and the weakness fed into European trading. European shares edged lower, while the Nikkei index closed off 0.6 percent.

A gauge of manufacturing in New York state was up in August after dropping in July, the New York Fed said. But the Empire State index came in below forecast, while the new orders component index fell below zero for the first time since June 2009, an early sign of a slowdown.

(Reporting by Edward Krudy; additional reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

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