NEW YORK (March 4, 2013)--Stocks closed higher Monday and the Dow Jones industrial average edged to near its record high.

The market overcame an early loss caused by new steps from China to rein in its booming housing market

The Dow closed up 38 points at end the day at 14,127 Monday, a gain of 0.3 percent.

The index is 37 points shy of its all-time high reached in October 2007.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose seven points, half a percent, to end at 1,525.

The Nasdaq composite rose 12 points, or 0.4 percent, to close at 3,182.

Apple fell 2.4 percent to its lowest level in a year.

Energy company Hess jumped 3.5 percent after saying it would sell its retail business.

More stocks rose than fell on the New York Stock Exchange where volume was thin at 3.3 billion shares.