India shares lower at close of trade; Nifty 50 down 0.88%

India equities were lower at the close on Tuesday, as losses in the IT, Technology and Fast Moving Consumer Goods sectors propelled shares lower.

At the close in NSE, the Nifty 50 lost 0.88%, while the BSE Sensex 30 index declined 0.89%.

The biggest gainers of the session on the Nifty 50 were Bajaj Finserv Ltd (NS:BJFS), which rose 5.50% or 693.45 points to trade at 13,313.00 at the close. JSW Steel Ltd (NS:JSTL) added 2.09% or 12.25 points to end at 597.75 and Grasim Industries Ltd (NS:GRAS) was up 1.09% or 16.35 points to 1,514.85 in late trade.

Biggest losers included Infosys Ltd (NS:INFY), which lost 3.49% or 52.45 points to trade at 1,451.15 in late trade. Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (NS:HLL) declined 2.92% or 76.50 points to end at 2,547.10 and AXIS Bank Ltd (NS:AXBK) shed 2.87% or 20.90 points to 706.45.

The top performers on the BSE Sensex 30 were Bajaj Finserv Ltd (BO:BJFS) which rose 5.58% to 13,314.75, Bharti Airtel Ltd (BO:BRTI) which was up 0.83% to settle at 683.80 and Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (BO:PGRD) which gained 0.53% to close at 209.05.

The worst performers were Infosys Ltd (BO:INFY) which was down 3.40% to 1,451.80 in late trade, AXIS Bank Ltd. (BO:AXBK) which lost 3.00% to settle at 706.35 and Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (BO:HLL) which was down 2.84% to 2,546.85 at the close.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1349 to 482 and 45 ended unchanged; on the Bombay Stock Exchange, 2083 fell and 1119 advanced, while 134 ended unchanged on the India National Stock Exchange.

The India VIX, which measures the implied volatility of Nifty 50 options, was up 2.77% to 18.17.

In commodities trading, Gold Futures for August delivery was down 0.15% or 2.65 to $1,716.45 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 1.71% or 1.65 to hit $98.35 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract rose 1.66% or 1.66 to trade at $101.85 a barrel.

USD/INR was up 0.07% to 79.77, while EUR/INR fell 0.62% to 80.94.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.52% at 106.91.