Technology bolstered Wall Street slightly on Monday, as investors bought shares after analysts' comments on BlackBerry maker Research in Motion and Cisco Systems.

Sentiment also got a lift from American International Group Inc's deal to sell its Alico foreign life insurance unit to MetLife Inc for about $15.5 billion.

MetLife's stock rose 4.7 percent to $40.74 and AIG gained 3.6 percent to $29.10.

The news continues to signal there's more (deals) to come and helps put a floor in the market, said Kurt Brunner, portfolio manager at Swarthmore Group in Philadelphia.

Research in Motion shot up 6.1 percent to $73.75, leading the Nasdaq higher after an analyst upgraded the stock on expectations the company will report strong quarterly results and issue a robust outlook.

Sprint Nextel shares climbed 4.6 percent to $3.43 and led the S&P telecommunications sector's index <.GSPL> higher after the company's chief financial officer said he hoped to see revenue declines slowing this year and a turn to revenue growth several quarters ahead.

Shares of Clearwire Corp , which is majority owned by Sprint, jumped 12 percent to $7.58 on Nasdaq.

The market move is more news-specific today than anything in a broad sense, Brunner said.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> shed 11.79 points, or 0.11 percent, to 10,554.41. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> dipped 0.14 point, or 0.01 percent, to 1,138.56.

But the Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> gained 5.39 points, or 0.23 percent, to 2,331.74.

Some analysts expect the stock market to remain in a tight range while Congress debates healthcare and bank reform.

Though volume has been moderate to light of late, the market's rebound from the recent sell-off has been accompanied by improving breadth, with a rising number of stocks hitting fresh multi-week highs.

Dow component McDonald's Corp advanced 2.7 percent to $65.37 on the New York Stock Exchange after the world's biggest hamburger chain reported that February same-store sales increased 4.8 percent.

Cisco Systems , another Dow component, rose 3.1 percent to $26.00 on Nasdaq after JP Morgan assumed coverage of the stock with an overweight rating and a price target of $28.

But an index of health insurers' shares slipped 0.5 percent after President Barack Obama criticized insurance premium increases and some cases of coverage denial in a speech in Philadelphia.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Jan Paschal)

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