Investing.com – India equities were lower at the close on Thursday, as losses in the Metals, Capital Goods and Auto sectors propelled shares lower.
At the close in NSE, the Nifty 50 declined 2.42% to hit a new 3-year low, while the BSE Sensex 30 index declined 2.01%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nifty 50 were ITC Ltd (NS:ITC), which rose 6.77% or 10.20 points to trade at 160.90 at the close. Bharti Airtel Ltd. (NS:BRTI) added 4.46% or 19.00 points to end at 444.55 and Infosys Ltd (NS:INFY) was up 3.28% or 17.50 points to 551.80 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Bharti Infratel Ltd (NS:BHRI), which lost 18.28% or 27.40 points to trade at 122.50 in late trade. Coal India Ltd (NS:COAL) declined 15.51% or 22.50 points to end at 122.55 and Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. (NS:ZEE) shed 13.80% or 22.65 points to 141.45.
The top performers on the BSE Sensex 30 were ITC Ltd (BO:ITC) which rose 7.50% to 161.95, Bharti Airtel Ltd (BO:BRTI) which was up 4.39% to settle at 444.90 and Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. (BO:KTKM) which gained 2.96% to close at 1207.75.
The worst performers were Bajaj Finance Ltd (BO:BJFN) which was down 10.24% to 2748.65 in late trade, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. (BO:MRTI) which lost 9.85% to settle at 4826.05 and AXIS Bank Ltd. (BO:AXBK) which was down 9.50% to 427.75 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 1229 to 314 and 86 ended unchanged; on the Bombay Stock Exchange, 1744 fell and 538 advanced, while 141 ended unchanged on the India National Stock Exchange.
The India VIX, which measures the implied volatility of Nifty 50 options, was up 12.89% to 72.1975 a new 5-year high.
In commodities trading, Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.17% or 2.45 to $1480.35 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in May rose 11.62% or 2.42 to hit $23.25 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 5.79% or 1.44 to trade at $26.32 a barrel.
USD/INR was up 0.84% to 75.170, while EUR/INR fell 0.18% to 81.2065.
The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.77% at 102.325.