Materials Up as French-Driven Relief Rally Continues -- Materials Roundup

Shares of miners and other commodities processors rose as risk appetite grew in the wake of the French election. "It's a big deal to have such a tail risk out of the way," said Lorenzo Di Mattia, manager of hedge fund Sibilla Global Fund. DuPont, which is in the advanced stages of a merger with Dow Chemical, said its sales rose, helped by foreign-exchange gains and a change in the timing of seed deliveries. AK Steel slid after the steel maker posted its heftiest first-quarter profit since the onset of the financial crisis in 2008. Steel makers have struggled to pass on price increases to customers, despite progress on tariffs and a diminished glut. Coal miners, meanwhile, have not mirrored the gains in coal prices, partly because of the rush of coal mining IPOs, said Mark Levin, an analyst Seaport Global, as reported earlier.

-Rob Curran, rob.curran@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 25, 2017 16:17 ET (20:17 GMT)