** Shares of Apple AAPL.O rises 0.6% to $253

** Co said it plans to introduce paid ads to its maps service in the U.S. and Canada this summer, marking its entry into a business long dominated by Alphabet GOOGL.O

** AAPL is on track for a second straight session of gains, bucking the broader S&P 500 .SPX, which is down 0.18%

** Apple Maps, an app that comes bundled on hundreds of millions of iPhones and other devices each year, will display paid advertising on top of existing organic search results, the company said

** Co did not say how much revenue it expects to generate from the new service, or how many users of its 2.5 billion active devices regularly use its maps service

** 48 analysts cover AAPL, giving it an average rating of "buy" and median PT is $300, per LSEG data

** AAPL is down 7% YTD vs NASDAQ Composite Index's .IXIC 6.2% decrease