US STOCKS-Techs lead Wall St slightly higher

                                
  
                                
 * AIG selling foreign life unit to MetLife for $15.5 bln
                                
 * BlackBerry maker's stock jumps on broker comments
                                
 * Obama critical of health insurers
                                
 * Dow dips 0.1 pct, S&P off 0.01 pct, Nasdaq up 0.2 pct
                                
 * For up-to-the-minute market news, click [STXNEWS/US]
 (Recasts, changes byline)
                                
 By Rodrigo Campos
                                
 NEW YORK, March 8 (Reuters) - Technology bolstered Wall
Street slightly on Monday, as investors bought shares after
analysts' comments on BlackBerry maker Research in Motion and
Cisco Systems.
                                
 Sentiment also got a lift from American International
Group Inc's <AIG.N> deal to sell its Alico foreign life
insurance unit to MetLife Inc <MET.N> for about $15.5 billion.
For details, see: [ID:nN08154999]
                                
 MetLife's stock rose 4.7 percent to $40.74 and AIG gained
3.6 percent to $29.10.
                                
 "The news continues to signal there's more (deals) to come
and helps put a floor in the market," said Kurt Brunner,
portfolio manager at Swarthmore Group in Philadelphia.
                                
 Research in Motion <RIMM.O> shot up 6.1 percent to $73.75,
leading  the Nasdaq higher after an analyst upgraded the stock
on expectations the company will report strong quarterly
results and issue a robust outlook. For details see
[ID:nN08174972].
                                
 Sprint Nextel <S.N> shares climbed 4.6 percent to $3.43
and led the S&P telecommunications sector's index <.GSPL>
higher after the company's chief financial officer said he
hoped to see revenue declines slowing this year and a turn to
revenue growth several quarters ahead.
                                
 Shares of Clearwire Corp <CLWR.O>,  which is majority
owned by Sprint, jumped 12 percent to $7.58 on Nasdaq.
                                
 The market move "is more news-specific today than anything
in a broad sense," Brunner said.
                                
 The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> shed 11.79 points,
or 0.11 percent, to 10,554.41. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index
<.SPX> dipped 0.14 point, or 0.01 percent, to 1,138.56.
                                
 But the Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> gained 5.39 points,
or 0.23 percent, to 2,331.74.
                                
 Some analysts expect the stock market to remain in a tight
range while Congress debates healthcare and bank reform.
                                
 Though volume has been moderate to light of late, the
market's rebound from the recent sell-off has been accompanied
by improving breadth, with a rising number of stocks hitting
fresh multi-week highs.
                                
 Dow component McDonald's Corp advanced 2.7 percent to
$65.37 on the New York Stock Exchange after the world's
biggest hamburger chain reported that February same-store
sales increased 4.8 percent. [ID:nN08166766]
                                
 Cisco Systems <CSCO.O>, another Dow component, rose 3.1
percent to $26.00 on Nasdaq after JP Morgan assumed coverage
of the stock with an "overweight" rating and a price target of
$28.
                                
 But an index of health insurers' shares slipped 0.5
percent after U.S. Presidewnt Barack Obama criticized
insurance premium increases and some cases of coverage denial
in a speech in Philadelphia. For details see [ID:nHEALTH].
 (Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Jan Paschal)