Markets gain for 2nd day as concern over Paris attack fades

Stocks rose for a second day on Tuesday, helped by fading concern about the fallout from the attacks in Paris, with sugar producers and tobacco companies pacing advances.

Shree Renuka Sugars rallied the most in more than seven years, while rival EID Parry India surged the most since May 2009 after a report that the government may give subsidy to cane growers. ITC, the biggest cigarette company, rose the most in five weeks, while Godfrey Phillips India rallied to a record. Vedanta, the largest copper producer, climbed to a one-week high and Tata Steel gained for a fourth day.

The S&P BSE Sensex index rose 0.4 per cent to 25,864.47 at the close in Mumbai, while a gauge of 500 companies capped its biggest two-day gain in a month. The Sensex climbed Monday after three weeks of declines sent its 14-day relative-strength index to a level that's considered to be oversold. The gains may recede as investor focus shifts to the possibility of the US Federal Reserve raising interest rates in December, according to Crest Wealth Management Pvt.

 

"We've moved from a bottom to an intermediate uptrend but there's no immediate trigger to give you the confidence to buy en masse," Lancelot D'Cunha, chief executive officer at Crest, said by phone from Mumbai. "There will be a decline if the Fed hikes in December." D'Cunha said he's advising clients to buy financial services and engineering companies.

Emerging-market stocks recouped from a six-week low, joining a rebound in global markets after the Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 1.5 per cent on Monday. The US stocks gauge had fallen on seven of the previous eight days after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said policy makers' December meeting was a "live possibility" for a rate increase and signs increased that growth overseas was slowing.