India stocks higher at close of trade; Nifty 50 up 2.40%

India stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Auto, Banking and Real Estate sectors led shares higher.

At the close in NSE, the Nifty 50 rose 2.40% to hit a new 1-month high, while the BSE Sensex 30 index gained 2.60%.

The best performers of the session on the Nifty 50 were Bajaj Finance Ltd (NSE:BJFN), which rose 7.64% or 75.90 points to trade at 1,069.90 at the close. Meanwhile, Shriram Finance Ltd. (NSE:SHMF) added 6.07% or 55.15 points to end at 963.90 and InterGlobe Aviation Ltd (NSE:INGL) was up 5.62% or 289.00 points to 5,429.80 in late trade.

The worst performers of the session were Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited (NSE:APLH), which fell 2.69% or 231.50 points to trade at 8,368.00 at the close. Oil And Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (NSE:ONGC) declined 2.04% or 4.80 points to end at 230.20 and NTPC Ltd (NSE:NTPC) was down 1.63% or 5.25 points to 316.70.

The top performers on the BSE Sensex 30 were Bajaj Finance Ltd (BO:BJFN) which rose 7.77% to 1,070.20, IndusInd Bank Ltd. (BO:INBK) which was up 5.67% to settle at 911.00 and Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles Ltd (BO:TAMO) which gained 5.35% to close at 293.20.

The worst performers were NTPC Ltd (BO:NTPC) which was down 1.65% to 316.40 in late trade, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (BO:APSE) which lost 0.53% to settle at 1,897.00 and Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (BO:PGRD) which was down 0.38% to 261.00 at the close.

Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the India National Stock Exchange by 2057 to 977 and 53 ended unchanged; on the Bombay Stock Exchange, 2763 rose and 1427 declined, while 168 ended unchanged.

The India VIX, which measures the implied volatility of Nifty 50 options, was up 2.60% to 15.58.

Gold Futures for December delivery was up 1.46% or 59.57 to $4,132.57 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in December rose 0.64% or 0.56 to hit $88.68 a barrel, while the January Brent oil contract rose 1.67% or 1.58 to trade at $96.20 a barrel.

USD/INR was down 0.14% to 94.41, while EUR/INR fell 0.04% to 106.14.

The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.05% at 101.38.