India stocks lower at close of trade; Nifty 50 down 0.26%

Investing.com – India stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the Metals, Auto and Real Estate sectors led shares lower.

At the close in NSE, the Nifty 50 declined 0.26% to hit a new 3-months low, while the BSE Sensex 30 index declined 0.24%.

The best performers of the session on the Nifty 50 were Divi's Laboratories Ltd. (NS:DIVI), which rose 1.46% or 42.00 points to trade at 2,915.20 at the close. Meanwhile, Asian Paints Ltd. (NS:ASPN) added 1.31% or 35.45 points to end at 2,741.40 and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (NS:APSE) was up 1.28% or 7.05 points to 558.90 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Hindalco Industries Ltd. (NS:HALC), which fell 4.86% or 21.20 points to trade at 415.25 at the close. Adani Enterprises Ltd (NS:ADEL) declined 4.85% or 67.00 points to end at 1,315.65 and Mahindra&Mahindra Ltd. (NS:MAHM) was down 2.55% or 33.50 points to 1,280.45.

The top performers on the BSE Sensex 30 were Asian Paints Ltd. (BO:ASPN) which rose 1.20% to 2,738.70, Bajaj Finserv Ltd (BO:BJFS) which was up 0.84% to settle at 1,358.90 and NTPC Ltd (BO:NTPC) which gained 0.83% to close at 171.00.

The worst performers were Mahindra&Mahindra Ltd. (BO:MAHM) which was down 2.39% to 1,282.05 in late trade, Tata Steel Ltd (BO:TISC) which lost 1.88% to settle at 109.80 and Larsen&Toubro Ltd (BO:LART) which was down 1.20% to 2,133.85 at the close.

Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the India National Stock Exchange by 1112 to 804 and 59 ended unchanged; on the Bombay Stock Exchange, 1873 fell and 1451 advanced, while 164 ended unchanged.

Shares in Adani Enterprises Ltd (NS:ADEL) fell to 52-week lows; down 4.85% or 67.00 to 1,315.65.

The India VIX, which measures the implied volatility of Nifty 50 options, was down 5.90% to 14.19.

Gold Futures for April delivery was up 0.16% or 2.95 to $1,829.75 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 1.03% or 0.78 to hit $76.17 a barrel, while the April Brent oil contract rose 1.06% or 0.87 to trade at $83.08 a barrel.

USD/INR was up 0.16% to 82.73, while EUR/INR rose 0.15% to 87.63.

The US Dollar Index Futures was up 0.08% at 104.63.