Nasdaq Leads Market's Gains

Stocks edged higher Friday morning, with traders focused on the "quadruple witching" expiration of exchange-traded derivatives at the closing bell.

Quadruple witching is the simultaneous expiration of options on individual stocks, index options, single-stock futures, and index futures. In the past, it has brought additional volatility to the market, with traders frantically selling or buying shares to deliver against their previous bets using futures and options contracts.

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But some observers said that most of the expected pressure probably occurred in the beginning of the week, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average suffered a three-day losing streak in which it fell more than 300 points. From Thursday's opening bell through the latest action, the market has been relatively calm.

The Dow was recently up about 33 points. The S&P 500 rose 0.6% as most of its sectors traded in a narrow range.

"What we've generally been seeing in this expiration cycle is people rolling over whatever options positions they have," settling the expiring contracts and then taking on similar bets in contracts for the following month, said Allen Greenberg, the Chicago-based options chief for brokerage BNY ConvergEx. "They're not necessarily looking for a big new move in either direction."

Health-care stocks gained, as insurers including Aetna, Cigna and UnitedHealth Group continued to rise after a rally on Thursday. Investors are betting that the Obama administration's health-care reform proposals will be scaled back.

The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 1.4%. Apple rose more than 2% as its newest iPhone hit store shelves and Palm, which recently debuted its Pre smart phone, was up 9.5%. Research In Motion shares dipped 1.9% after it said on Thursday that its earnings jumped on strong sales of BlackBerry smart phones but issued an outlook that disappointed some traders.

Mineral extractors gained as investors continued to hope the global economy has moved past the worst point. Rio Tinto was up 1.9% and BHP Billiton rose 1.9%. Commodities prices were generally higher, with the front-month crude-oil futures contract hovering near $72 a barrel.

Asia stocks were mostly higher, but several indexes moved off their peaks. The Nikkei 225 finished up 0.9% higher, with the Hang Seng logging similar gains. In Europe, markets were stronger. The FTSE 100 was up 1.5%.