Stock futures edge up as Wall St eyes 3 weeks of gains

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures edged higher on Friday after recent advances pushed indexes to more than 30-month highs and as Wall Street eyed a third week of gains.

The S&P 500, up 4.2 percent so far this month, has doubled in less than two years, the quickest 100 percent jump since the Great Depression.

However, volume has been light in the most recent leg of the rally, with just 6.7 billion shares changing hands Thursday on the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE Amex and Nasdaq combined -- the second lowest total so far this year.

"There have been so many negative setups this market has just run through, that anytime we see them now we are skeptical that they will work this time," said Wayne Kaufman, chief market analyst at John Thomas Financial in New York.

"I'm just expecting any pullbacks that do occur will be light," he added. "There are still no sellers out there."

S&P 500 futures added 0.9 point but were below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures added 7 points, and Nasdaq 100 futuresrose 2 points.

The Dow and the S&P 500 are at their highest levels since June 2008, while the Nasdaq is at its highest since October 2007.

"I've never seen a market like this," said Paul Mendelsohn, chief investment strategist at Windham Financial Services. A market watcher for 35 years, he is taking profits in every area but commodities.

"No matter where we start out in the morning, buyers come in," he said. "I'm showing by every technical and quantitative standard I have, this market is at extreme levels."

China raised banks' required reserves by 50 basis points on Friday, showing no let-up in the government's campaign to stamp out stubbornly high inflation.

A Group of 20 meeting in Paris will be on investors' radar screens, as the world's top central bankers take center stage on Friday ahead of the two-day event charged with tackling global imbalances.

Political unrest in the oil-producing Middle East and North Africa region is also likely to be closely monitored, as crowds in Libya, Yemen, Iran and Bahrain took to the streets in anti-government protests.

Chemicals group DuPont extended its 33.4 billion crown ($6.1 billion) offer for Danish food and enzymes group Danisco to April, hoping to gain more acceptances as it awaited regulatory approvals.

Campbell Soup Co reported lower quarterly profit and cut its full-year forecast, hurt by declining U.S. sales. The shares fell 3.7 percent to $33.65.

(Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)