US STOCKS-Wall Street drifts higher as Georgia runoffs get underway

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* Voters head to polling booths in Georgia
* U.S.-listed Chinese cos jump after NYSE flips delisting
decision
* Micron jumps after Citi's double upgrade
* Wall Street's fear gauge slips after Monday's surge
* Indexes up: Dow 0.19%, S&P 0.32%, Nasdaq 0.50%

(Adds comment, details; updates prices)
By Medha Singh and Devik Jain
Jan 5 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes climbed on
Tuesday as investors took advantage of previous session's slump,
while waiting for the outcome of battleground Georgia's Senate
runoff elections, which will determine the balance of power in
Washington.
The latest polls from data website 538 https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/georgia-senate-polls
gave a slight edge to the two Democratic challengers who need
to win both races for Democrats to gain U.S. Senate control from
Republicans.
Along with their narrow majority in the House of
Representatives, a "blue sweep" of Congress could usher in
larger fiscal stimulus. It could also pave the way for
President-elect Joe Biden to push through greater corporate
regulation and higher taxes. "There's a portion of the investment community that worries
if Georgia votes in the Democrats, that taxes are going to rise
and policy extremes are going to happen. But that's a minority
of the investment population," said Robert Pavlik, senior
portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth in Fairfield, Connecticut.
"The majority of the investment community still believes
it's not the end of the world."
The Cboe Volatility Index .VIX flip-flopped after closing
at its highest level in two months in the prior session, which
saw Wall Street's main indexes drop to two-week lows as
investors booked profits at the start of the year. At 11:40 a.m. ET the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
rose 56.91 points, or 0.19%, to 30,280.18, the S&P 500 .SPX
gained 11.78 points, or 0.32%, to 3,712.46 and the Nasdaq
Composite .IXIC gained 63.28 points, or 0.50%, to 12,761.73.
Energy stocks .SPNY jumped about 2% on the back of higher
oil prices. O/R
Consumer staples .SPLRCS , utilities .SPLRCU and
healthcare .SPXHC were the laggards.
Although the start of vaccine rollouts and massive monetary
support powered the major U.S. stock indexes to record levels
recently, the discovery of a more contagious strain of the
coronavirus and the latest virus-related curbs have muddied the
economic outlook.
Britain began its third national lockdown. Meanwhile, New
York on Monday found its first case of the highly contagious
variant of the coronavirus. "The market could end up being choppy for much of the first
quarter as investors try to digest soft economic data because of
the most current lockdowns," said Sam Stovall, chief investment
strategist at CFRA Research
ISM survey showed U.S. manufacturing activity rose to its
highest level in nearly 2-1/2 years in December, likely as
spiraling new COVID-19 infections pulled demand away from
services towards goods. Chipmaker Micron Technology Inc MU.O rose about 5% after
Citigroup raised its rating on the stock to "buy" on
expectations of a recovery in demand and pricing for DRAM chips.
U.S.-listed shares of China Telecom Corp Ltd CHA.N and
China Mobile Ltd CHL.N added about 10% each, while those of
China Unicom Hong Kong Ltd CHU.N advanced 14% after the NYSE
reversed its decision to delist the stocks. Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.2-to-1 ratio
on the NYSE and by a 2.1-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 12 new 52-week highs and no new lows
while the Nasdaq recorded 103 new highs and seven new lows.