Investing.com – India equities were higher at the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Banking, IT and Fast Moving Consumer Goods sectors propelled shares higher.
At the close in NSE, the Nifty 50 gained 0.51%, while the BSE Sensex 30 index gained 0.53%.
The biggest gainers of the session on the Nifty 50 were ICICI Bank Ltd . (NS:ICBK), which rose 2.28% or 5.05 points to trade at 226.40 at the close. Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. (NS:KTKM) added 1.84% or 11.75 points to end at 651.25 and ITC Ltd (NS:ITC) was up 1.75% or 5.55 points to 322.05 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Hindalco Industries Ltd. (NS:HALC), which lost 2.86% or 2.40 points to trade at 81.50 in late trade. Asian Paints Ltd. (NS:ASPN) declined 2.23% or 19.70 points to end at 864.90 and Vedanta Ltd (NS:VDAN) shed 2.04% or 1.80 points to 86.30.
The top performers on the BSE Sensex 30 were ICICI Bank Ltd. (BO:ICBK) which rose 2.30% to 226.45, ITC Ltd (BO:ITC) which was up 1.66% to settle at 322.10 and Infosys Ltd (BO:INFY) which gained 1.56% to close at 1152.00.
The worst performers were Hindalco Industries Ltd. (BO:HALC) which was down 2.92% to 81.45 in late trade, Vedanta Ltd (BO:VDAN) which lost 1.88% to settle at 86.35 and Bajaj Auto Limited (BO:BAJA) which was down 1.51% to 2244.00 at the close.
Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones by 806 to 592 and 78 ended unchanged; on the Bombay Stock Exchange, 454 fell and 346 advanced, while 37 ended unchanged on the India National Stock Exchange.
The India Vix, which measures the implied volatility of Nifty 50 options, was down 2.74% to 17.1150.
In commodities trading, Gold for April delivery was up 0.19% or 2.30 to $1233.30 a troy ounce. Meanwhile, Crude oil for delivery in April rose 2.06% or 0.75 to hit $37.09 a barrel, while the May Brent oil contract rose 1.81% or 0.70 to trade at $39.44 a barrel.
USD/INR was down 0.17% to 67.255, while EUR/INR fell 0.34% to 74.5760.
The US Dollar Index was up 0.21% at 96.86.