By Caroline Valetkevitch
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Friday in a relief rally after Greece and euro zone finance ministers reached a deal to extend heavily indebted Greece's financial rescue by four months.
News of the agreement, which removes the immediate risk of Greece running out of money next month and possibly being forced out of the single currency area, lifted U.S. indexes to session highs, with the Dow and S&P 500 both hitting intraday peaks.
The Nasdaq was set for its eighth session of gains as it approached its March 2000 all-time high.
Investors had been waiting for signs of progress in negotiations over the Greece debt situation, with the uncertainty triggering caution among market participants. Officials stressed that there was still no formal agreement in the full meeting of the Eurogroup of 19 finance ministers.
"The rally is as much as anything a relief rally. It's one less worry that can be checked off," said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott in Philadelphia.
Shares of the Global X FTSE Greece 20 exchange-traded fund jumped 10 percent, while U.S.-listed shares of the National Bank of Greece were up 18.6 percent at $1.91.
At 2:49 p.m., the Dow Jones industrial average rose 117.2 points, or 0.65 percent, to 18,102.97, the S&P 500 gained 7.98 points, or 0.38 percent, to 2,105.43 and the Nasdaq Composite added 20.13 points, or 0.41 percent, to 4,944.83.
Intuit Inc was among the Nasdaq's biggest positives, rising 6 percent to $96.55 a day after reporting a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss.
Shares of Mohawk Industries were up 6.7 percent at $184.24. The stock was the biggest percentage gainer in the S&P 500 following its results.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by 1,881 to 1,170, for a 1.61-to-1 ratio on the upside; on the Nasdaq, 1,375 issues fell and 1,325 advanced for a 1.04-to-1 ratio favoring decliners.
The benchmark S&P 500 index was posting 62 new 52-week highs and 2 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite was recording 90 new highs and 18 new lows.
(Editing by Bernadette Baum and Nick Zieminski)
