Apple’s historical high leads tech action

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) � Tech stocks started the week on a positive note Monday, with Apple Inc. highlighting the sector�s action as the iconic technology company�s shares climbed to more than $500 for the first time ever.

Apple AAPL �rose $9.18 a share, or almost 2%, to close at $502.60 giving the world�s most-valuable company a market capitalization of $468 billion. Read Rex On Techs column on the reality of Apple and its rising stock price.

/quotes/zigman/68270/quotes/nls/aapl AAPL 636.34, +5.51, +0.87%

Separately, Apple put out a statement saying that at the company�s request, the Fair Labor Association will conduct a series of voluntary audits of Apple�s final assembly suppliers in China, including Foxconn, one of the world�s biggest maker�s of tech products. The audits are said to be aimed at determining the quality of working and living conditions at the facilities.

With Apple in the lead, the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP �rose more than 27 points to 2,931. The Morgan Stanley High Tech 35 Index MSH �and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index SOX �closed with small gains.

Click to Play Apple shares break $500 for first time

It's official, Apple shares just crossed the $500 threshold, Steven Russolillo reports on Markets Hub.

Advances also came from Dell Inc. DELL , Microsoft Corp. MSFT , Google Inc. GOOG , IBM Corp. IBM �and online travel site Priceline.com Inc. PCLN �, which rose $26.11 a share, or almost 5%, to close at $571.15.

Chipmakers Advanced Micro Devices Inc. AMD �and Nvidia Corp. NVDA �also got some attention after a pair of industry analyst stock upgrades.

AMD rose 24 cents a share, or more than 3%, to close at $7.29 after Bernstein Research analyst Stacy Rasgon raised his rating on AMD to outperform from market perform and lifted his price target on the stock to $10 a share from $6.50.

Nvidia also got a lift, rising by 25 cents a share to $16.15 after Craig Berger of FBR Capital Markets raised his rating on the graphics chipmaker to outperform from market perform following reports the company has won several new deals for some of its chip designs.