NEW YORK, March 15 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks opened higher on Monday, building on gains scored in the prior week.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 140.83 points, or 0.43 percent, to 32,919.47. The S&P 500 rose 4.75 points, or 0.12 percent, to 3,948.09. The Nasdaq Composite Index added 2.29 points, or 0.02 percent, to 13,322.16.

Of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors, utilities advanced 0.7 percent in morning trading, outpacing the rest. Energy fell 0.23 percent, becoming the worst-performing group.

The above moves followed a solid week on Wall Street, which saw the Dow gain 4.1 percent, the S&P 500 climb 2.6 percent, and the Nasdaq Composite rise 3.1 percent, as investors eye U.S. fiscal stimulus and bond yields.

A spike in government bond yields has hit high-flying tech names recently. U.S. Treasury yields fell slightly on Monday morning, but the yield on the benchmark 10-year treasury bond still hovered above the 1.6-percent level.