* Commodity stocks lead gains as U.S. dollar retreats
* Consumer spending rises for fifth month in a row
* Dow and Nasdaq up 0.4 pct; S&P 500 up 0.6 pct
* For up-to-the-minute market news, click []
(Adds volume)
By Ellis Mnyandu
NEW YORK, March 29 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Monday
as miners and energy companies advanced on dollar weakness and
investors bought recent high fliers as the quarter's end
approached.
The dollar's decline boosted commodities prices, including
crude oil. Exxon Mobil Corp <XOM.N> was up 1.1 percent to
$67.30 and the S&P energy index <.GSPE> rose 1.8 percent.
Major manufacturers and industrials, the quarter's
top-performing sector, also fared well, with Boeing Co <BA.N>,
up 2.1 percent and Caterpillar Inc <CAT.N> up 1.7 percent. They
were both the Dow's top boosts. The S&P industrials index
<> has risen 13 percent so far in the first quarter.
But overall volume was light at the start of a
holiday-shortened week that will cap the S&P 500's <.SPX>
fourth straight positive quarter. Although the underlying tone
was positive, slippage in financial shares, including a 3.3
percent drop by Citigroup <C.N>, curbed a broader market
advance.
"It's kind of a slow day. The move today is being led by
energy and materials, and we're seeing commodities markets
bounce. That is helping to push things higher," said Mike
O'Rourke, chief market strategist at brokerage BTIG LLC in New
York.
Slippage in the dollar underpinned the advance in
commodities as the dollar index <.DXY> slipped 0.5 percent as
the euro strengthened on news of another successful bond sale
by debt-laden Greece.
The Dow Jones industrial average <> rose 45.50 points,
or 0.42 percent, to 10,895.86 -- it's highest close since
September 2008. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> climbed
6.63 points, or 0.57 percent, to 1,173.22. The Nasdaq Composite
Index <> jumped 9.23 points, or 0.39 percent, to
2,404.36.
U.S. equity markets will be closed on Friday in observance
of the Good Friday holiday.
The benchmark S&P 500 as a whole is up 5.2 percent for the
quarter thus far, compared with the fourth quarter's gain of
5.5 percent. The S&P 500 is up 73.4 percent since bottoming in
March 2009.
Money managers typically scour the market for high fliers
close to quarter-end to spruce up portfolios by selling
laggards in a practice known as "window dressing."
"It's not a bad way to start a holiday-shortened week,"
said Fred Dickson, chief market strategist at D.A. Davidson &
Co in Lake Oswego, Oregon. "What we're seeing is some
quarter-end rebalancing by institutional portfolio managers."
On Nasdaq, Apple Inc <AAPL.O> shares were a top boost,
ending at a record $232.39 after the iPhone maker said shoppers
can buy its newest portable iPad computer this weekend at Apple
and Best Buy <BBY.N> stores.
Best Buy is the largest U.S. electronics retailer. For
details, see []
The Dow is up 4.5 percent for the quarter so far, down from
gains of 7.4 percent in previous quarter, while the Nasdaq is
on track for a 6 percent gain this quarter versus an increase
of 6.9 percent in the fourth quarter.
Among decliners, Citigroup Inc <C.N> fell 3.02 percent to
$4.18 after the U.S. Treasury announced a plan to sell the 7.7
billion shares of the bank it owns over the course of this
year. That sparked some profit-taking after the stock's recent
run-up. []
The KBW bank index <.BKX> slipped 0.3 percent.
In economic news, U.S. consumer spending rose as expected
in February for a fifth straight month, while stagnant incomes
pushed savings to their lowest level since October 2008, the
government said. []
On Friday, the government will release its monthly non-farm
payrolls report, which analysts expect will show a turnaround
in new jobs added by the U.S. labor market in March.
About 7.49 billion shares traded on the New York Stock
Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, below last
year's estimated daily average of 9.65 billion.
Advancing stocks on the New York Stock Exchange beat
decliners by a ratio of about 9 to 4, while on Nasdaq about
seven stocks rose for every five that fell.
(Additional reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; editing by
Kenneth Barry)
