India: Sensex rises as Clinton's chances brighten

Indian shares rose about 1 per cent on Monday, snapping four sessions of losses, as Democrat Hillary Clinton's prospects improved in the US presidential race after federal investigators cleared her in their latest review.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said on Sunday it stood by its earlier finding that no criminal charges were warranted against Clinton for using a private email server for government work.

Asian shares rose on optimism over Clinton's chances just two days ahead of the election. The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan advanced 0.8 per cent.

Investors had been unnerved by signs of a tightening presidential race between Clinton and Republican candidate Donald Trump, whose stance on foreign policy, trade and immigration are seen as less predictable by financial markets.

"It is basically a sentiment-driven market. Markets are perceiving that Clinton has now become a stronger candidate than Trump," said Saurabh Jain, assistant vice-president of research at SMC Global Securities.

The broader National Stock Exchange Nifty was up 1.05 per cent at 8,522.50 by 0551 GMT, while the benchmark Bombay Stock Exchange Sensex was 0.91 per cent higher at 27,522.10.

Financial and healthcare stocks were among the biggest percentage gainers on the NSE index after posting heavy losses last week.

The Nifty Bank index and the Nifty Pharma index rose as much as 1.4 per cent and 3.3 per cent, respectively, rebounding after four sessions of declines.

ICICI Bank Ltd <ICBK.NS>, which is set to report quarterly results later in the day, was up 2 per cent after falling 2.6 per cent last week.

Drugmaker Lupin Ltd <LUPN.NS> climbed as much as 8 per cent, after the company on Friday said the US FDA had cleared its Goa manufacturing plant for exports.

(Reuters)