India shares higher at close of trade; Nifty 50 up 0.21%

India equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Power, Oil & Gas and Technology sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in NSE, the Nifty 50 gained 0.21% to hit a new all time high, while the BSE Sensex 30 index climbed 0.31%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nifty 50 were Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (NS:PGRD), which rose 3.80% or 9.45 points to trade at 258.20 at the close. Oil And Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (NS:ONGC) added 1.88% or 2.95 points to end at 160.20 and HDFC Bank Ltd (NS:HDBK) was up 1.75% or 28.10 points to 1,635.60 in late trade.

Biggest losers included JSW Steel Ltd (NS:JSTL), which lost 1.86% or 14.40 points to trade at 758.75 in late trade. Hindalco Industries Ltd. (NS:HALC) declined 1.75% or 7.50 points to end at 421.45 and Divi’s Laboratories Ltd. (NS:DIVI) shed 1.59% or 56.65 points to 3,509.55.

The top performers on the BSE Sensex 30 were Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (BO:PGRD) which rose 3.68% to 258.10, HDFC Bank Ltd (BO:HDBK) which was up 1.71% to settle at 1,635.80 and Housing Development Finance Corporation Ltd (BO:HDFC) which gained 1.66% to close at 2,701.90.

The worst performers were Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (BO:MAHM) which was down 1.59% to 1,373.95 in late trade, ITC Ltd (BO:ITC) which lost 1.29% to settle at 447.05 and IndusInd Bank Ltd. (BO:INBK) which was down 0.87% to 1,286.75 at the close.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1033 to 903 and 66 ended unchanged; on the Bombay Stock Exchange, 1715 fell and 1673 advanced, while 119 ended unchanged on the India National Stock Exchange.

The India VIX, which measures the implied volatility of Nifty 50 options, was up 1.44% to 11.29.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.12% or 2.25 to $1,945.45 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in August rose 0.20% or 0.14 to hit $71.33 a barrel, while the August Brent oil contract rose 0.17% or 0.13 to trade at $76.03 a barrel.

USD/INR was up 0.01% to 82.00, while EUR/INR rose 0.02% to 89.55.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.07% at 102.20.