Around the World's Markets: New York

SHARE PRICES on Wall Street were sharply higher in late morning trade, helped by heavy buying of technology stocks, although volumes were light.

The Dow Jones was up 112 points at 112.26 at lunchtime, shrugging off the news that the US economy expanded at 3.7 per cent in the third quarter, slightly slower than the forecast 3.9 per cent forecast rate. The technology sector was boosted by heavy interest in Internet shares.