BarbaraKollmeyer

Markets reporter

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — U.S. stocks ended Monday’s choppy trading session with small gains, as investors mostly shrugged off the Greek election results which brought the leftist Syriza party to power.

The relative calm in global equity markets was attributed largely to lingering effects of the quantitative easing program announced by the European Central Bank last week, which overshadowed election results in Greece.

After switching between small gains and losses, the main indexes closed marginally higher.

S&P 500 SPX, -0.97% ended 5.24 points, or 0.3%, higher at 2,057.07. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -1.22% added 6.1 points to 17,678.70. The Nasdaq COMP, -0.89%  ended the day up 13.88 points, or 0.3%, at 4,771.76.

On Sunday, the leftist Syriza party, which ran on an antiausterity platform, won elections in Greece and fears that the new government in Greece may decide to leave the eurozone sent the euro plunging against the dollar, though the single currency pared its Sunday losses by Monday morning.

Traders dismissed election results as insignificant to financial markets and unlikely to destabilize the rest of European economy, while stressing that accommodative monetary policies from major central banks will continue to underpin markets.

Uri Landesman, president of Platinum Partners hedge fund, is not concerned with election results in Greece.

“The Greeks chose a new extreme party and they will have to live with the consequences. Whatever they decide to do in terms of their debt, will impact them, not the rest of Europe,” Landesman said.

Speaking about recent weakness in the U.S. stock market, Landesman attributed it to the end of quantitative easing and expectations of rate hikes this year.

“Return to volatility may see the S&P 500 go from 1,750 to 2,350 this year. It will be great for hedge funds. In fact, we are opening a long-short fund in anticipation of greater volatility as the party [easy monetary policy] comes to an end,” he added.

Bruce Bittles, chief investment strategist at RW Baird & Co. said that the reason markets have not fallen more is because there are few other options to put money in.

“Strength of the dollar and a growing economy make the U.S. markets attractive, so there is demand from foreign investors for both bonds and stocks,” Bittles said.