Wall Street ends quiet day flat, Netflix boosts Nasdaq

US stocks ended a thinly traded session mostly flat as investors paused after last week's surge, though continually light volume suggested the market could encounter more choppy trading.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 12.90 points, or 0.10 percent, at 12,569.87. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was down 1.79 points, or 0.13 percent, at 1,337.88. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 9.74 points, or 0.35 percent, at 2,825.77.

European shares inched higher in thin volume, rising for the seventh straight session, with a key index holding above its 50-day moving average in a bullish sign for equities which could signal more gains in the medium-term for equities.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares provisionally closed 0.06 percent higher at 1,122.26 points, though volumes were low at just 61 percent of its 90-day daily average.

The Nikkei stock average eked out a tiny gain, extending its rally to a sixth session and hitting a fresh two-month closing high, helped by hopes of a slowly improving economic outlook but most players expect momentum to fade soon.

The Nikkei benchmark is hovering just below 10,000 and a clear break of resistance at 10,017.47, an intraday high marked on May 2, would pave the way for a test of a chart gap created immediately after the March 11 quake, with the gap lying at 10,050 to 10,254.