US stocks ended slightly higher on Monday amid hopes that a political deal over the looming fiscal cliff was in the works.

Markets showed little effect from the fresh turmoil in the eurozone, after Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said he would resign in the coming days and Silvio Berlusconi threatened a comeback on an anti-austerity platform.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 14.75 points (0.11 per cent) to 13,169.88.

The broad-market S&P 500 added 0.48 (0.03 per cent) to 1,418.55, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite rose 8.92 points (0.30 per cent) to 2,986.96.

Trade was light and in a narrow range, with transportation, technology and basic materials shares strongest, while consumer goods slipped.

Troubled Hewlett-Packard surged 2.6 per cent on rumours that raider Carl Icahn was moving on the company.

Canadian energy firm Nexen added 13.8 per cent after Canadian regulators approved its takeover by Chinese state oil giant CNOOC late on Friday.

Excepting Apple (-0.6 per cent), big tech stocks were higher: Facebook 1.3 per cent, Google 0.2 per cent, Cisco 2.4 per cent and STMicroelectronics, which said it was leaving a joint venture with Ericsson, added 3.4 per cent.

Bond prices edged higher. The 10-year US Treasury yield slipped to 1.62 per cent from 1.63 per cent late Friday, while the 30-year fell to 2.80 per cent from 2.81 per cent.

Bond prices and yields move inversely.