NEW YORK, Feb. 27 (Xinhuanet) -- U.S. stocks edged up Monday as world oil prices fell sharply to 61 dollars a barrel, shrugging off the declining of sales of new homes.

    World oil prices fell sharply Monday as Iran agreed with Russia to establish a joint uranium enrichment venture. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in April, dropped 1.91 dollars to close at 61.00 dollars per barrel.

    Sales of new homes in the United States declined by 5 percent in January, the second drop in the past three months, the Commerce Department reported on Monday. Analysts said that the decline is another sign that the U.S. housing market, after setting sales records for five straight years, is slowing under the impact of rising mortgage rates.

    The Dow Jones industrial average rose 35.70, or 0.32 percent, to 11,097.55. The Standard & Poor's 500 index added 4.69, or 0.36 percent, to 1,294.12, near a 4 year high set Jan. 11. The Nasdaq composite index gained 20.14, or 0.88 percent, to 2,307.18.

    Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by about 9 to 7 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 1.44 billion shares, roughly on par with Friday's trading. Enditem