India shares higher at close of trade; Nifty 50 up 1.60%

India equities were higher at the close on Monday, as gains in the Public Sector Undertakings, Auto and Metals sectors propelled shares higher.

At the close in NSE, the Nifty 50 gained 1.60%, while the BSE Sensex 30 index climbed 1.53%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nifty 50 were Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (NS:PGRD), which rose 6.04% or 12.95 points to trade at 227.25 at the close. Grasim Industries Ltd (NS:GRAS) added 5.76% or 69.20 points to end at 1270.00 and Oil And Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (NS:ONGC) was up 5.45% or 6.05 points to 117.05 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Bharti Airtel Ltd. (NS:BRTI), which lost 4.33% or 24.10 points to trade at 532.20 in late trade. Bajaj Finance Ltd (NS:BJFN) added 0.04% or 1.90 points to end at 5266.80 and Cipla Ltd. (NS:CIPL) gained 0.35% or 2.75 points to 789.80.

The top performers on the BSE Sensex 30 were Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (BO:PGRD) which rose 5.94% to 227.55, Oil And Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (BO:ONGC) which was up 5.40% to settle at 117.15 and UltraTech Cement Ltd (BO:ULTC) which gained 4.30% to close at 6377.30.

The worst performers were Bharti Airtel Ltd (BO:BRTI) which was down 4.44% to 532.35 in late trade, Bajaj Auto Ltd (BO:BAJA) which gained 0.39% to settle at 3815.50 and IndusInd Bank Ltd. (BO:INBK) which was up 0.42% to 1067.75 at the close.

Advancing stocks outnumbered falling ones by 1140 to 554 and 60 ended unchanged; on the Bombay Stock Exchange, 1883 rose and 1072 declined, while 193 ended unchanged on the India National Stock Exchange.

The India VIX, which measures the implied volatility of Nifty 50 options, was down 8.95% to 25.6250.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.89% or 15.45 to $1744.25 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 1.25% or 0.77 to hit $62.27 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 1.21% or 0.78 to trade at $65.20 a barrel.

USD/INR was down 0.59% to 73.487, while EUR/INR fell 0.75% to 88.5810.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.14% at 91.007.