NEW YORK (AFP) - US shares swung slightly higher in a modest snapback from last week's losses, with investors shaking off new record highs for oil prices.
At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 26.77 points, or 0.27 percent, to 10,081.97, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite added 8.79 points, or 0.46 percent, to 1,928.76.
The Standard and Poor's 500 broad-market index advanced 2.25 points, or 0.20 percent, to 1,124.39.
In a light session during the Columbus Day observance, buyers appeared to shrug off a new spike in oil prices.
Light sweet crude for delivery in November rose 33 cents to finish at 53.64 dollars a barrel, a record high settlement, shortly after spiking to an unprecedented 53.80 dollars on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
There was some bargain hunting after a week in which the Dow blue-chip index slid 1.34 percent and the Nasdaq tumbled by 1.14 percent.
Despite the rebound, First Albany analyst High Johnson said markets are stalled out as investors await a full docket of information over the next few weeks, including economic data, earnings and statements from the Federal Reserve.
"This is a motionless market. It's stuck, it's motionless and we're waiting for something from (Fed chairman Alan) Greenspan, something from the earnings reports to get us off dead center," Johnson said.
Johnson said markets have been holding up pretty well since oil prices began heating up in August.
"I take that to mean investors are first looking to 2005 ... and the answer that I'm getting is that oil prices at current levels are manageable," he said.
Rod Smyth at Wachovia Securities said the market's resilience could mean a break higher out of the long trading range.
"From a fundamental perspective, we think a good amount of the market's fears -- high energy prices, rising interest rates, inflation, a slowing economy, high debt levels and political instability -- are already reflected in stock prices," Smyth said.
"The stock market does not appear overvalued to us and normalized earnings are supportive of higher prices in our view."
Most European stock markets were dragged lower by record high oil prices.
The London FTSE 100 index closed 0.29 percent lower at 4,685.5 and the Paris CAC 40 fell 0.27 percent to 3,727.87, while the Frankfurt DAX 30 finished essentially flat, up 0.06 percent at 4,017.82.
The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares dipped 0.09 percent to 2,813.82.
Among active US shares, Merck climbed 40 cents to 30.74 dollars after news that the embattled pharmaceutical giant started looking outside the company for a possible successor to Raymond Gilmartin, the company's chairman and chief executive officer.
Semiconductors were mixed after negative comments on the sector from Deutsche Bank.
Intel added six cents to 20.61, Micron Technology dipped 11 cents to 11.90, Texas Instruments shed 14 cents to 20.89, and Advanced Micro Devices rose 45 cents to 13.95, recouping some of last week's steep losses.
Airline shares remained under pressure from high oil prices. Delta Airlines lost 18 cents to 3.08, Northwest Airlines retreated 29 cents to 7.67, Continental Airlines dipped three cents to 8.51, American Airlines parent AMR fell two cents to 7.02 and Southwest Airlines shed 22 cents to 13.59.
The US bond market was closed due to Columbus Day.