Wall Street rises in thin trade day before U.S. election

By Atossa Araxia Abrahamian

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks advanced modestly on Monday in light trading in one of the year's quietest sessions on the day before the U.S. presidential election.

Whatever the outcome of the race between incumbent President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney, the election's resolution will finally end the uncertainty that has kept the market stagnant for the past few weeks.

"No one's going to make big bets today," said Perry Piazza, director of investment strategy at Contango Capital Advisors in San Francisco.

Just 4.34 billion shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and the NYSE MKT on Monday, below this year's average daily volume of 6.5 billion.

"(The market) has been directionless over the last few weeks because of what fiscal and tax policy looks like next year. You could argue that just having the uncertainty behind us could lead to a bit of a relief rally," Piazza said.

The Nasdaq was the strongest of the three major U.S. stock indexes, helped by a rally in Apple Inc