NEW YORK, New York - It was a mixed environment for U.S. stocks on Monday, with the Dow Jones registering solid gains, while the Nasdaq and Standard and Poor's 500 struggled.

In late trading, however, there was a surge of buying pushing the Dow even further ahead, the S&P 500 into positive territory, and the Nasdaq closer to the black.

"We had a good rally in the beginning of the day, but it's faded," Oliver Pursche, senior vice president at Wealthspire Advisors, in New York told Reuters Thomson Monday.

"September's always bumpy and we saw that last week," Pursche said. "But generally speaking the environment is positive for stocks and probably will be through the end of the year."

The Dow Jones industrials surged 261.91 points or 0.76 percent to close Monday at 34,869.63.

The Standard and Poor's 500 added 10.15 points or 0.23 percent to 4,068.33.

The Nasdaq Composite dropped 9.91 points or 0.07 percent to 15,105.58.

The U.S. dollar was steady against the majors. The euro recovered to 1.1806 approaching the New York close Monday, after dropping earlier to 1.1770.

The British pound consolidated levels just above 1.3800, last being quoted at 1.3834. The Japanese yen eased to 110.01. The Swiss franc fell to 0.9227.

The Canadian dollar was little changed at 1.2662. The Australian dollar firmed slightly to 0.7362. The New Zealand dollar was a fraction lower at 0.7106.

On overseas equity markets, London's FTSE 100 rose 0.56 percent. The Dax in Germany was up 0.59 percent. The CAC 40 in Paris climbed 0.20 percent.

On Asian markets, the Nikkei 225 added 65.53 points or 0.22 percent to close at 30,447.37.

China's Shanghai Composite climbed 18.60 points or 0.25 percent to 7,425.70.

The Australian All Ordinaries increased 19.90 points or 0.26 percent to 7,726.10.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng, declined 392.10 points or 1.50 percent to 25,813.79.