Wall St flat as S&P faces strong resistance

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The S&P 500 met tough overhead resistance on Monday as traders saw little reason to push up stock prices in the face of lingering geopolitical uncertainties that have weighed on equities recently.

The benchmark S&P 500 hovered near 1,333, a level it has been unable to close above since mid-February. That level is double the 12-year low hit in March 2009 and is not far from 1,344, the S&P's 2011 high and its highest since June 2008.

"We have a lot of resistance right above and at the moment not enough reason to push through that resistance," said Frank Lesh, an analyst and broker at FuturePath Trading in Chicago. "Overall, the market is performing quite well and we're holding in here."

The lack of significant economic data on Monday, nuclear and other quake-related problems in Japan and unrest in Libya, Syria and other countries in the oil-rich region of North Africa and the Middle East could translate into low volume on Wall Street.

Last week was the lowest in volume so far in 2011. By Edward Krudy