Wall St edges higher after Putin comments

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks opened modestly higher on Tuesday, after comments from Russian President Vladimir Putin eased concerns that tensions over Ukraine might escalate.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 35.32 points or 0.22 percent, to 16,282.54, the S&P 500 gained 3.28 points or 0.18 percent, to 1,862.11 and the Nasdaq Composite added 6.769 points or 0.16 percent, to 4,286.717.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Nick Zieminski)