New York  - US stocks closed lower Monday, after key indexes reached 11-month highs last weeks, amid concerns that recent rallies had taken share prices too high.

"The stock market is vulnerable," Keith Wirtz, chief investment officer at Fifth Third Asset Management Inc in Cincinnati told Bloomberg News. "There's a large crowd expecting a pullback after such a strong spike."

The New York-based Conference Board's index of leading economic indicators rose 0.6 per cent in August, for the fifth straight month, as the country continues to look for signs that its deepest recession in decades is over.

"This suggests that the recession is bottoming out. These numbers are consistent with the view that after a very severe downturn, a recovery is very near," Conference Board economist Ken Goldstein said.

Financial shares dragged the markets down. While Bank of America fell 2.2 per cent, JP Morgan Chase dropped 0.9 per cent and American Express declined 2.9 per cent.

The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 41.34 points, or 0.42 per cent, to 9,778.86. The broader Standard and Poor's 500 Index lost 3.64 points, or 0.34 per cent, to
1,064.66. The technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index picked up 5.18 points, or 0.24 per cent, to 2,138.04.

The US currency gained against the euro to 68.13 euro cents from 67.97 euro cents on Friday. The dollar gained against the Japanese currency to 92.01 yen from 91.29 yen.  dpa