Stocks ended higher on Monday as merger news encouraged investors but rising oil prices kept the gains in check.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 38.94 points, or 0.4 percent, to 10,384.34. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 7.49 points, or 0.6 percent, to 1,178.84. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 12.32 points, or 0.6 percent, to 1,979.67.

Investors welcomed merger activity as Duke Energy Corp. agreed to buy Cinergy Corp. in a $9 billion stock deal and online trading company E*Trade Financial Corp. was reported to have expressed interest in buying rival Ameritrade Holding Corp., according to The Wall Street Journal.

And oil prices rose above $52 per barrel as concerns about summer gasoline demand continued. A barrel of light crude was quoted at $52.03, up $1.07, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Among local movers, shares of Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. gained 3.6 percent to $72.15 after Wells Fargo Securities raised its rating on the Pasadena-based real estate investment trust to “buy” from “hold.”

And Edison International rose 3.6 percent to $37.80 after the parent of Southern California Edison, Edison Mission Energy and Edison Capital reported net income of $201 million (61 cents per diluted share) for the first quarter ended March 31, well above analysts’ mean expectation for earnings of 34 cents.

North American Scientific Inc. shares fell 1 percent to $2.99 each after the Chatsworth-based radiation therapy products company said in an SEC filing that on May 3 it terminated the employment of John Manzetti, president of the company’s wholly owned Nomos Corp. subsidiary. On May 4, Manzetti resigned from the company’s board. As part of an agreement, he gets $450,000 in separation and severance payments.