MARKET CLOSE: Bulls take control

Technology stocks erupted Friday, pushing the Nasdaq composite up 91 points to 2,966.52, a new record close. The Dow Jones industrial average charged up 109 points to finish an exceptionally strong week at 10,731.76.

Hardware, networking and Internet stocks all faired well as investors brushed aside whatever inflationary concerns they once had.

It helped that home sales fell 12.8 percent in September to an annual rate of 811,000 was seen as more evidence for a case against inflation, kindling hope the Federal Reserve won't raise interest rates again.

Intel Corp. (INTC) closed up 5 1/4 to 77 7/16 after saying it expects 1999 to be the best year for the PC business since the mid-1990s.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) rose 13/16 to 19 13/16 and International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) closed up 3 7/16 to 98 3/8.

Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) moved up 4 1/16 to 179 1/16. America Online Inc. (AOL) gained 2 7/8 to 129 3/8 after announcing a 2-for-1 stock split. Excite@Home Corp. (ATHM) inched up 1/4 to 37 3/8 while Lycos Inc. (LCOS) and Infoseek Corp. (SEEK) rallied up 13/16 and 2 13/16 a share, respectively.

Mortgage.com (MDCM) lost 1 1/2 to 9 1/8 after announcing a third quarter operating loss of $16.4 million, or 59 cents a share. The results topped expectations. Go2Net Inc. (GNET) rose 11 1/4 to 70 3/8 on solid third-quarter results.

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) shot up 2 11/16 to 92 9/16. Oracle Corp. (ORCL) tacked on 1 11/16 to 47 9/16 and Sun Microsystems Inc. (SUNW) stormed up 7 3/16 to 105 13/16.

Among widely held PC stocks, Dell Computer Corp. (DELL) moved up 1 5/8 to 40 1/8; Compaq Computer Corp. (CPQ) inched up 3/16 to 19; Gateway Inc. (GTW) rose 2 11/16 to 66 1/16 and Apple Computer Inc. (AAPL) finished up 2 1/4 to 80 1/8.

Cisco Systems Inc. (CSCO) jumped 3 1/16 to 74 while Lucent Technologies Inc. (LU) and 3Com Corp. (COMS) closed up 1 1/4 and 3/4 a share, respectively.