MER Telemanagement Solutions Ltd. (NasdaqCM: MTSL) improved 32.04 percent in price to $2.72 as Thursday’s session wound down. Volume of 153,319 shares was twice-and-a-half MTSL’s normal full-day average volume. The company is an Israel-based global provider of business support systems (BSS) for comprehensive telecommunication management, telecommunications expense management (TEM) solutions and customer care & billing (CC&B) solutions

Microsoft Corporation (NasdaqGM: MSFT) was among the volume leaders late Thursday afternoon, trading in 74,178,631 shares, outpacing its full-day average of 57,943,600. MSFT shares inched up 3.19 percent to $26.87. Thursday, Norton Healthcare announced it had entered into an agreement with Microsoft Corp. to use its health solutions platforms, Microsoft Amalga Unified Intelligence System (UIS) and Microsoft HealthVault

American States Water Company (NYSE: AWR) lost 8.40 percent in price Thursday to $34.13, on volume of 414,085 shares, or nearly five times its full-day average. Through its subsidiaries, AWR provides water service to approximately 256,000 Californians and to over 13,000 customers in, Arizona.