Wall St treads water, eyes 3 weeks of gains

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street opened little changed on Friday after recent advances pushed indexes to more than 30-month highs and as stocks 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.

"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.

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

The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> dropped 1.13 points, or 0.01 percent, to 12,317.01. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> fell 0.43 points, or 0.03 percent, to 1,340.00. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> gained 1.30 points, or 0.05 percent, to 2,832.88.

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.

Campbell Soup Co reported lower quarterly profit and cut its full-year forecast, hurt by declining U.S. sales. The shares fell 5.5 percent to $33.02.

(Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)