MARKET CLOSE: Nasdaq rises to record

Techs led the Nasdaq to another record high as the index topped off one of its best weeks ever.

The Nasdaq Composite Index closed Friday at 4,244.14, up 33.16 and a new high. The S&P 500 slid 0.60 to 1,424.37 and the blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 49.64 to 10,963.80. Inter@ctive Week's @100 Index picked up 51.18 to 6,251.60.

For the week, the Nasdaq gained more than 9 percent.

"The fact that interest rates have come down over the past few days is very good for long-duration tech stocks," said Annette Geddes, managing director for M.D. Sass in New York.

But new issues that saw the steepest gains Friday. Avanex (Nasdaq: AVNX), which makes processors for optical networks, picked up 136 to 172. eMerge Interactive (Nasdaq: EMRG) rose 32 1/4 to 47 1/4. FirePond (Nasdaq: FIRE) gained 78 1/4 to 100 1/4.

eOn Communications Corp. (Nasdaq: EONC) increased 11 to 23. Dobson Communications (Nasdaq: DCEL), with Friday's largest new offering, advanced 1 1/8 to 23 1/8.

Radiant Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: RADS) raced up 10 1/8 to 54 1/2 after analysts praised its fourth-quarter report.

Viant Corp. (Nasdaq: VIAN) blasted ahead 5 5/8 to 105 5/8 after it creamed estimates in its recent quarterly report.

Investors bit a chunk off Red Hat (Nasdaq: RHAT) sending shares down 5 15/16 to 92 11/16 after it announced a secondary stock offering Friday.

Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) rose 2 15/16 to 106 9/16. Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) lost 5 5/8 to 78 9/16, Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) dropped 6 3/4 to 353 1/2 and America Online Inc. (NYSE: AOL) lost 2 3/8 to 57 1/2.

Dell Computer Corp. (Nasdaq: DELL) was unchanged at 38 1/2, Compaq Computer Corp. (NYSE: CPQ) shed 1/2 to 27 1/2 and IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM) lost 1 7/16 to 115 11/16.