Stocks rose on Friday as investors snapped up technology shares following upbeat broker comments on such bellwethers as Apple, offsetting a drag from natural resource shares after the dollar's rebound.

Apple Inc , the iPhone and the iPod maker, jumped 0.5 percent to $190.20 after it was added to UBS' list of strategic stock picks.

Shares of BlackBerry devices maker Research In Motion Ltd gained 2 percent to $70.08 after a Baird analyst upgraded the stock to outperform from neutral, saying upcoming device launches could be a positive catalyst and the current stock price was attractive.

Technology is one of the sectors that's still growing, and I think that's why you're seeing the strength. The valuations are still not extreme for their growth, said Alan Lancz, president of Alan B. Lancz & Associates Inc, an investment advisory firm, based in Toledo, Ohio.

The tech balance sheets are strong, and the companies have some interesting products as far as the smartphones, and that's just incredible as far as the overseas potential.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> jumped 26.15 points, or 0.27 percent, to 9,813.02. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> rose 2.15 points, or 0.20 percent, to 1,067.63. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> gained 8.82 points, or 0.42 percent, to 2,132.75.

The semiconductor index <.SOXX> was up 1.6 percent.

International Business Machines Corp advanced 1.8 percent to $124.48 and was the top boost to the Dow.

The dollar rose broadly, putting a lid on global commodity prices after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said that monetary policy might have to be tightened as a recovery takes hold.

The dollar's decline, which culminated in a 14-month trough against a basket of currencies on Thursday, has been one the major underpinnings of the stock market's run-up as the appetite for riskier assets grew.

The benchmark S&P 500 <.SPX> has rallied nearly 60 percent from a 12-year low of early March, and was on track to reverse a two-week losing streak.

(Reporting by Ellis Mnyandu; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

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