Sensex, Nifty climb for fourth session; aluminium, sugar stocks jump

By Vishal Sridhar

(Reuters) - Indian shares rose for a fourth straight session on Tuesday, tracking gains in Asian peers as conciliatory-sounding comments from Chinese President Xi Jinping helped soothe investor concerns about an escalating U.S.-China trade spat.

Asian shares recovered from early falls to rise as much as 0.9 percent after Xi said China will take measures to sharply widen market access for foreign investors, raise the foreign ownership limit in the automobile sector and protect intellectual property of foreign firms. [MKTS/GLOB]

Global financial markets have been rattled over the past few weeks on fears that the tit-for-tat U.S.-China tariffs will explode into a full-scale trade war in a blow to global growth.

The Nifty was up 0.19 percent at10,399.15 as of 0539 GMT, while the Sensex was 0.26 percent higher at 33,877.63.

Investors are optimistic regarding faster resolutions at the National Company Law Tribunal and that they will see "some dissection" in the market following corporate results, said Saurabh Jain, assistant vice president of research at SMC Global Securities.

Investors have now turned their focus to domestic cues such as March retail inflation data due later this week and corporate results.

Infosys Ltd, the country's third-largest software services exporter, will kick-start the January-March results season on Friday.

Investors continued to buy into metal stocks, with the Nifty metal index up for a sixth straight session.

Both Hindalco Industries Ltd and National Aluminium Co Ltd rose over 4 percent, as aluminium prices extend gains after the United States imposed sanctions on Russian firm United Company Rusal.

Axis Bank Ltd gained over 3 percent and was among the top percentage gainer on the NSE index after the country's third-biggest private-sector bank by assets said on Monday its long-time chief executive, Shikha Sharma, will step down at the end of 2018.

Shares of sugar companies climbed sharply following a Reuters report that the government is likely to provide financial support to cane farmers for produce sold to sugar mills.

Balrampur Chini Mills Ltd surged as much as 8.6 percent, while Dalmia Bharat Sugar and Industries Ltd gained over 7 percent.

(Reporting by Vishal Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)