S&P 500 Index opens modestly higher supported by tech shares

• Wall Street's main indexes trade mixed on Wednesday.
• S&P 500 Communication Services Index is up more than 2%.
• CBOE Volatility Index is down nearly 4% after the opening bell.

Major equity indexes in the US started the day on a mixed note on Wednesday amid varying performances of major sectors. As of writing, the S&P 500 Index was up 0.2% on the day at 3,835, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was losing 0.25% at 30,614 and the Nasdaq Composite was rising 0.33% at 13,500.

Nevertheless, the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), Wall Street's fear gauge, is down nearly 4%, reflecting a relatively upbeat market mood.

Among the 11 major S&P 500 sectors, the Communication Services Index is up 2.1% as the top performer after the opening bell. On the other hand, the Real Estate Index is down 0.5%.

Earlier in the day, the data published by the Automatic Data Processing (ADP) Research Institue showed that the private sector employment in the US increased by 174,000 in January, compared to analysts' forecast of 49,000.

S&P 500 chart (daily)