U.S. stocks advance on Greek deal; tech stocks lead

By Tanya Agrawal

REUTERS - U.S. stocks rose on Monday, with the Dow Jones industrial average moving into positive territory again for the year, after euro zone leaders reached an agreement with Greece to move forward with a bailout loan for the country to avert bankruptcy.

The news also put the Nasdaq composite on track for its best three-day run in 2015, while the S&P 500 was on track for its best three-day run in five months.

The technology index led the market higher, with Facebook, Netflix and Amazon all hitting record highs, while Apple's 1.6 percent rise gave the biggest boost to the Nasdaq.

Greece won conditional agreement to receive a possible $95 billion over three years, along with an assurance of talks to bridge a funding gap until a bailout is finally ready. The deal is contingent on Greece meeting a tight timetable to enact reforms of value added tax, pensions and budget cuts.

"The U.S. market is following the global markets as Greece nears a deal," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital in New York.

"The stronger Chinese markets are also helping but volatility will be high this week till a Greek deal is finalized and the big banks set the tone for earnings."

World markets rose, while the dollar index gained 0.63 percent to $96.62 against a basket of major currencies following news of the deal. Chinese stocks rose for a third straight day as data showed exports rose while imports slipped in June, a tentative sign global demand might be on the mend.

At 12:38 p.m. ET (1638 GMT) the Dow Jones industrial average was up 176.31 points, or 0.99 percent, at 17,936.72. The S&P 500 was up 17.81 points, or 0.86 percent, at 2,094.43 and the Nasdaq composite was up 65.00 points, or 1.3 percent, at 5,062.70.

Nine of the 10 major S&P 500 sectors were higher, with utilities index in the red as the Greece deal boost U.S. Treasury yields. Utilities and other dividend payers tend to compete with bonds as investments.

Oil prices tumbled as Iran and six world powers closed in on a nuclear deal that would end sanctions on Iran, allowing more oil on to the market. The energy index stayed in the black, but has been the worst performing S&P sector over the last month, falling over 5 percent.

However, the oil price slide boosted U.S. airline stocks. American Airlines, United Continental, JetBlue and Alaska Air were all up between 1 and 3 percent.

Apple rose 1.7 percent to $125.38 after Socgen upgraded the company's stock to "buy" from "hold", saying it expected a successful launch of the new iPhone 6S in September. The stock is up 4 percent in the last two days for its best back-to-back run since the end of January.

Netflix hit a record high of $715.80 after Goldman Sachs raised its price target on the stock to $780 From $620.

Markwest Energy Partners was up 11.7 percent at $66.80 after MPLX, Marathon Petroleum's master limited partnership said it will buy the natural gas processor for about $15.63 billion. MPLX was down 16.6 percent at $57.88 while Marathon rose 7.8 percent to $58.76.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 2,140 to 866. On the Nasdaq, 1,945 issues rose and 766 fell.

The S&P 500 index posted 38 new 52-week highs and 10 new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 137 new highs and 36 new lows.

(Editing by Savio D'Souza)