India stocks lower at close of trade; Nifty 50 down 0.46%

India stocks were lower after the close on Thursday, as losses in the Banking, Public Sector Undertakings and Carbon sectors led shares lower.

At the close in NSE, the Nifty 50 lost 0.46%, while the BSE Sensex 30 index declined 0.54%.

The best performers of the session on the Nifty 50 were Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (NS:HLL), which rose 3.33% or 70.95 points to trade at 2202.10 at the close. Meanwhile, Grasim Industries Ltd (NS:GRAS) added 2.76% or 22.15 points to end at 825.25 and Shree Cements Ltd. (NS:SHCM) was up 2.70% or 617.60 points to 23485.15 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were State Bank Of India (NS:SBI), which fell 3.05% or 7.15 points to trade at 227.05 at the close. Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. (NS:KTKM) declined 2.85% or 51.55 points to end at 1756.30 and Coal India Ltd (NS:COAL) was down 2.66% or 3.35 points to 122.50.

The top performers on the BSE Sensex 30 were Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (BO:HLL) which rose 3.37% to 2203.00, ITC Ltd (BO:ITC) which was up 1.40% to settle at 187.85 and Larsen & Toubro Ltd (BO:LART) which gained 1.09% to close at 1071.00.

The worst performers were State Bank Of India (BO:SBI) which was down 3.16% to 226.80 in late trade, Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. (BO:KTKM) which lost 2.91% to settle at 1754.75 and IndusInd Bank Ltd. (BO:INBK) which was down 2.41% to 769.15 at the close.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the India National Stock Exchange by 982 to 604 and 106 ended unchanged; on the Bombay Stock Exchange, 1506 rose and 1092 declined, while 188 ended unchanged.

Shares in Grasim Industries Ltd (NS:GRAS) rose to 52-week highs; gaining 2.76% or 22.15 to 825.25.

The India VIX, which measures the implied volatility of Nifty 50 options, was down 6.41% to 20.6200.

Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.27% or 4.95 to $1866.55 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 0.14% or 0.06 to hit $41.51 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 0.14% or 0.06 to trade at $43.86 a barrel.

USD/INR was up 0.17% to 74.566, while EUR/INR rose 0.52% to 88.1260.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.25% at 92.793.