NEW YORK, New York - U.S. stocks were choppy on Monday with all the major indices dipping in and out of positive territory. A late run in the final hour saw all the key indices advance.

"We're in a wait-and-see approach and markets are waiting for some kind of bullish or bearish catalyst to send us out of this trading range," Adam Sarhan, CEO of 50 Park Investments told CNBC Monday.

"The markets are struggling for direction and that's the fundamental news."

The Nasdaq Composite did best, percentage-wise, rising 86.72 points or 0.76 percent to 11,535.02.

The Standard and Poor's 500 added 26.56 points or 0.69 percent to 3,899.89.

The Dow Jones industrials increased 197.26 points or 0.64 percent to 31,019.68.

The U.S. dollar lost ground in New York trading, putting down a round of support in Asia. The euro perked back up above parity to trade at 1.0022 around the New York close Monday. The British pound firmed to 1.1437. The Japanese yen strengthened to 143.20. The Swiss franc gained to 0.9644.

The Canadian dollar was stronger at 1.3255. The Australian dollar firmed to 0.6726. The New Zealand dollar was a tad higher at 0.5960.

On overseas equity markets, the German Dax advanced 0.49 percent. The Paris-based CAC 40 was down 0.26 percent. In London, the FTSE 100 declined 0.62 percent.

The Japanese stock market was closed due to a public holiday.

In Australia, the All Ordinaries declined 17.70 points or 0.25 percent to 6,957.80.

New Zealand's S&P/NZX 50 shed 48.47 points or 0.42 percent to 11,531.99.

In South Korea, the Kospi Composite fell 27.63 points or 1.16 percent to 2,355.15.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong dived 195.72 points or 1.04 percent to 18,515.97.

China's Shanghai Composite was off 10.80 points or 0.35 percent at 3,115.60.