Markets at fresh highs; Sensex rallies 359 pts, Nifty near 14,900

After touching an all-time high of 50,687.51 during the day, the 30-share BSE index ended 358.54 points or 0.71 per cent higher at its new closing record of 50,614.29.

Mumbai: Rallying for the fourth successive session, equity benchmark Sensex jumped 359 points to scale a fresh lifetime high on Thursday, led by gains in ITC, SBI and Kotak Bank.

After touching an all-time high of 50,687.51 during the day, the 30-share BSE index ended 358.54 points or 0.71 per cent higher at its new closing record of 50,614.29.

Similarly, the broader NSE Nifty finished 105.70 points or 0.71 per cent higher at its closing peak of 14,895.65. It touched an intra-day record of 14,913.70.

ITC was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, soaring around 6 per cent, followed by SBI, Bajaj Finance, ONGC, M&M, Kotak Bank, UltraTech Cement, NTPC and Bajaj Finserv.

On the other hand, Asian Paints, IndusInd Bank, Bharti Airtel, Tech Mahindra and Titan were among the laggards.

"Domestic equities defied weak cues of Asian markets and extended gains for the fourth consecutive day as growing optimism about prospects of Indian economy post the announcement of bold Budget continued to attract investors," said Binod Modi, Head Strategy at Reliance Securities.

Notably, domestic market crossed Rs 200 trillion market capitalisation mark during the day, he said, adding that strong buying in banks, especially PSBs, and FMCG space supported the market rally.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Seoul and Shanghai closed with losses.

Stock exchanges in Europe were, however, largely trading with gains in mid-session deals.

Meanwhile, the global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.09 per cent higher at USD 58.74 per barrel.

(PTI)