US STOCKS-Tech, healthcare extend Wall St rally, focus on week's jobs report

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Indexes up: Dow 0.07%, S&P 500 0.33%, Nasdaq 0.5%

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Vistra (VST) gains after $4.7 billion deal to buy Cogentrix Energy

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Memory chipmakers clock gains, SanDisk (SNDK) at record high

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Albemarle gains after Berenberg raises PT

(Updates for market open)

By Purvi Agarwal and Nikhil Sharma

Jan 6 (Reuters) -

Wall Street edged higher on Tuesday, led by healthcare and technology stocks, extending the previous session's rally as markets positioned for the week's key jobs report to gauge the Federal Reserve's policy outlook.

The financials-driven rally ?had propelled the blue-chip Dow to a record high on Monday. The Dow is now about 1.9% away from the historic 50,000 mark.

At 9:58 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones ?Industrial Average rose 31.10 points, or 0.07%, to 49,008.28, the S&P 500 gained 22.95 points, or 0.33%, to 6,925.00 and the ?Nasdaq Composite gained 109.20 points, or 0.47%, to 23,505.02.

At least seven major S&P sectors were trading ?in the green, with healthcare stocks ?outshining with a 1.7% rise. Drugmaker Moderna was up 7% after BofA Global Research raised its price objective on the stock.

Tech stocks rose 0.7%, led by chipmakers. Bellwether Nvidia (NVDA) ?gained 1.8%. Memory-chip shares rallied, with SanDisk (SNDK) jumping 20% to a record ?high, while peers Western Digital (WDC) and Micron Technology (MU) added 6% and 6.4%, respectively.

Lithium miner Albemarle surged 12.1% after Berenberg raised its target price to $135 from $75. The stock boosted the broader materials index by 1.4%.

Investors brushed aside fears ?of broader geopolitical fallout after U.S. forces captured Venezuelan President ?Nicolas Maduro over the ?weekend, betting the move could pave the way for U.S. firms to gain access to Venezuela's oil reserves.

Oil firms eased on Tuesday after robust gains in the prior session, with giants Exxon Mobil (XOM) and Chevron (CVX) down 1.2% and 2%, ?respectively.

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration plans to meet executives from oil companies later this week to discuss boosting production in Venezuela.

"There's a lot of retooling that would need to get done to get these downstream producers ready for this type of crude oil. It could be done - and it probably will be. How long ... how much investment it will take, and who makes that investment are still the big questions," said Mark Malek, chief investment officer at Siebert Financial.

This week, a series of labor market data will ?be on investors' radar, ?including December's crucial nonfarm payrolls numbers on Friday, which can influence the Fed's monetary policy path.

The dataset commands renewed importance after Fed Chair Jerome Powell urged caution against further reductions at the central bank's December meeting until there was ?more clarity on the health of the labor market.

The release will also mark the return of a standard data report that has not been affected by the government shutdown, during which crucial data collection was suspended.

Richmond Fed President

Tom Barkin said

that future rate moves should be carefully guided by incoming data, given risks to the central bank's jobs and inflation goals, while Governor Stephen Miran said in a Fox Business interview that policy was restrictive and holding the economy back.

S&P Global's final U.S. composite PMI slipped to 52.7 in December from 53.0 in the month prior, while the services PMI eased ?to 52.5 from 52.9, still signaling expansion.

Vistra (VST) gained 4.8% after announcing a deal to buy Cogentrix Energy from Quantum Capital Group for about $4.7 billion.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.08-to-1 ratio on the NYSE, and by a 1.18-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 33 new 52-week highs and four new lows, while ?the Nasdaq Composite recorded 65 new highs and 17 new lows. (Reporting by Purvi Agarwal and Nikhil Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)