US STOCKS-Industrials, tech stocks lift Wall St at the end of choppy month

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* Chaotic first U.S. presidential debate dulls mood
* U.S. private payrolls rise more than expected in Sept -
ADP
* Indexes up: Dow 1.03%, S&P 0.78%, Nasdaq 0.89%

(Updates to open)
By Devik Jain and Shreyashi Sanyal
Sept 30 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes rose on
Wednesday, led by industrials and technology-related stocks,
although investors remained cautious after a heated presidential
debate pointed to a tough election race ahead.
Ten of the 11 major S&P indexes were trading higher, with
energy .SPNY also among the biggest gainers in early trading.
Financials .SPSY and energy stocks have both been hammered
this month as investors oscillated between growth-linked and
value-linked sectors.
The S&P 500 was headed for its first monthly decline since
the coronavirus-driven crash in March, with trading becoming
more volatile in the past few weeks on increasing doubts about
whether President Donald Trump would accept the election's
outcome if he lost.
In a chaotic and bad-tempered first debate, Trump and
Democratic rival Joe Biden battled fiercely over Trump's record
on the coronavirus pandemic, healthcare and the economy.
"It is becoming more likely that we won't have a clear-cut
winner on the night of the election and could have a few weeks
of contested period," said Masahiko Loo, portfolio manager at
AllianceBernstein in Tokyo.
Analysts said stock markets could also see quarter-end
rebalancing of investor portfolios on Wednesday, as the previous
session was marked by market participants booking profits after
a strong start to the week.
Despite the expected weakness in September, the S&P 500 was
on course for its best two-quarter winning streak since 2009 and
the Nasdaq since 2000.
At 9:59 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI was
up 1.03% with Boeing Co BA.N and Goldman Sachs Group Inc
GS.N providing the biggest boost to the blue-chip index.
The S&P 500 .SPX was up 0.78% and the Nasdaq Composite
.IXIC 0.89%.
Heavyweight tech mega-caps including Apple Inc AAPL.O ,
Facebook Inc FB.O , Amazon.com Inc AMZN.O , Netflix Inc
NFLX.O and Alphabet Inc GOOGL.O rose between 0.4% and 1.4%.
Sentiment was also supported by data showing U.S. private
employers stepped up hiring in September as well as the Chicago
PMI reading jumping to 62.4, the highest level since December
2018. Investors now await a more detailed jobs report from the
Labor Department on Friday.
Moderna Inc MRNA.O rose 5.4% after researchers said its
COVID-19 vaccine candidate produced virus-neutralizing
antibodies in older adults at levels similar to those seen in
younger adults in an early safety study. Walt Disney Co DIS.N edged lower as it plans to lay off
roughly 28,000 employees, mostly at its U.S. theme
parks. Micron Technology Inc MU.O slipped 5.7% after the
chipmaker said it has not yet obtained new licenses needed to
sell its memory chips to China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
HWT.UL , which would cut its sales over the next two quarters.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners 3.47-to-1 on the NYSE
and 2.58-to-1 on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded five new 52-week highs and no new
low, while the Nasdaq recorded 31 new highs and 12 new lows.