India stocks lower at close of trade; Nifty 50 down 0.44% By Investing.com

Investing.com – India stocks were lower after the close on Wednesday, as losses in the , and sectors led shares lower.

At the close in NSE, the declined 0.44%, while the index declined 0.34%.

The best performers of the session on the were Asian Paints Ltd. (NS:), which rose 2.05% or 64.80 points to trade at 3,226.50 at the close. Meanwhile, Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (NS:) added 1.99% or 52.80 points to end at 2,707.35 and Bharat Petroleum Corp. Ltd. (NS:) was up 1.96% or 6.45 points to 335.00 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were NTPC Ltd (NS:), which fell 2.00% or 3.50 points to trade at 171.70 at the close. SBI Life Insurance Company Ltd (NS:) declined 1.79% or 23.05 points to end at 1,262.05 and Bajaj Finserv Ltd (NS:) was down 1.75% or 28.55 points to 1,606.70.

The top performers on the BSE Sensex 30 were Asian Paints Ltd. (BO:) which rose 2.10% to 3,226.65, Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (BO:) which was up 2.01% to settle at 2,707.50 and Larsen & Toubro Ltd (BO:) which gained 1.42% to close at 2,123.50.

The worst performers were NTPC Ltd (BO:) which was down 2.00% to 171.80 in late trade, Bajaj Finserv Ltd (BO:) which lost 1.73% to settle at 1,607.00 and IndusInd Bank Ltd. (BO:) which was down 1.64% to 1,164.65 at the close.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the India National Stock Exchange by 1170 to 738 and 52 ended unchanged; on the Bombay Stock Exchange, 1907 fell and 1471 advanced, while 137 ended unchanged.

Shares in Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (NS:) rose to 52-week highs; rising 1.99% or 52.80 to 2,707.35. Shares in Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (BO:) rose to 52-week highs; rising 2.01% or 53.40 to 2,707.50. Shares in Larsen & Toubro Ltd (BO:) rose to all time highs; up 1.42% or 29.65 to 2,123.50.

The , which measures the implied volatility of Nifty 50 options, was up 0.25% to 14.08.

Gold Futures for February delivery was up 0.16% or 2.85 to $1,785.25 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in January fell 0.93% or 0.69 to hit $73.56 a barrel, while the February Brent oil contract fell 1.00% or 0.79 to trade at $78.56 a barrel.

USD/INR was down 0.09% to 82.41, while EUR/INR rose 0.24% to 86.56.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.17% at 105.36.