Apple shares gain in heavy volume ahead of product event

NEW YORK (Reuters) - APPLE (AAPL.NQ)shares were up 0.7 percent in heavy volume on Tuesday ahead of the iPhone maker's "special event" in California, where it is expected to debut a smartwatch.

Volume was already above 20 million shares traded about 75 minutes into the session. The stock's 10-day moving average volume is above 60 million.

If no new product category is announced, investors could take profits in the stock, which is up almost 23 percent this year and this month hit record levels.

In the options market, Apple straddles that expire Sept. 12 are pricing in a 4 percent move in either direction by that date.

Daily moves have been smaller than average at the tech giant lately, with many investors holding off on making bets until the details of the products are known.

"The day-traders are sitting on the sidelines waiting for this conference to be able to play with Apple's stock - not to take a position but to take advantage of being able to get in and out very quickly," said S&P Dow Jones Indices analyst Howard Silverblatt.

Apple is the largest corporation in world, with a market capitalization of about $619 billion, well above the next biggest, Exxon Mobil, which has a market cap of $417 billion. Google is third, valued at $407 billion.

Apple is also the biggest stock in the market cap-weighted S&P 500, accounting for 3.3 percent of the index's moves.

(Additional reporting by Saqib Iqbal Ahmed; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

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