NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures surged on Sunday, pointing to a sharply higher open when Wall Street opens on Monday, after the U.S. government seized control of troubled mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae (FNM.N) and Freddie Mac (FRE.N).

The takeover is the latest move by the government to shore up the slumping housing market and was taken to ward off more global financial market turbulence.

S&P 500 futures rose 30.30 points and were above 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 rose 239 points and Nasdaq 100 futures gained 35.25 points.

Officials were concerned mounting losses at the two companies, which own or guarantee almost half of the country's $12 trillion in outstanding home mortgage debt, were sapping their vitality and threatening to undermine them at a time other sources of housing finance have largely run dry.

(Editing by James Dalgleish)

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