US stocks gain as tech shares rally

US stocks ended higher as tech-related shares rallied broadly, bolstering the market.

On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 8.92 points, or 0.03 per cent, to 26,680.87. The S&P 500 advanced 27.11 points, or 0.84 per cent, to 3,251.84. The Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 263.90 points, or 2.51 per cent, to 10,767.09, Xinhua news agency reported.

Microsoft shares surged 4.3 per cent, leading the gainers in the 30-stock index.

Shares of other US tech giants, the so-called FAANG group of Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google-parent Alphabet, all closed higher.

The S&P 500 technology and communication services sectors climbed 2.58 per cent and 1.25 per cent, respectively, among the best-performing groups.

US-listed Chinese companies traded mostly higher, with nine of the top 10 stocks by weight in the S&P US Listed China 50 index ending the day on an upbeat note.

Investors seemed to shrug off the surging coronavirus cases in the United States.

More than 3.8 million confirmed COVID-19 cases have been reported in the United States, with over 140,000 deaths, as of Monday afternoon, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Wall Street's major averages posted mixed results in the past week as investors digested a slew of earnings reports while weighing the impact of surging coronavirus infections.

For the week ending Friday, the Dow gained 2.3 per cent, the S&P 500 rose 1.3 per cent, and the Nasdaq lost 1.1 per cent.