NEW YORK, Dec 30 — Wall Street stocks started off higher again today with major indices continuing to scale new records as investors shrug off a surge in Covid-19 cases.

During a seasonally strong period for equities, the Dow and S&P 500 edged to records yesterday, and rose again at the open following data showing US jobless claims fell back under 200,000 last week in the latest sign of a tightening job market.

"The markets continue to focus on signs that the Omicron variant may be relatively less severe even though the transmissibility is high,” Charles Schwab analysts said in a market commentary.

About 30 minutes into the penultimate trading session of 2021, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.2 per cent to 36,576.86.

The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.2 per cent to 4,800.70, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.3 per cent to 15,814.49.

Among individual companies, Biogen fell 6.7 per cent after Samsung denied a report it was in negotiations to acquire the biotech company. Shares of Biogen had soared 9.5 per cent after Korea Economic Daily reported the talks. — AFP