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)