Sensex, Nifty hit fresh highs tracking rally in Asian peers

Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty climbed to fresh all-time highs on Thursday driven by buying in auto shares amid a sharp rally in Asian markets.

The BSE Sensex jumped 666.25 points or 0.78 per cent to settle at an all-time high of 85,836.12.

During the day, it reached a record intra-day peak of 85,930.43, surging 760.56 points or 0.89 per cent.

The benchmark is just 69.57 points away from the 86,000-peak.

Rallying for the sixth day in a row, the NSE Nifty climbed 211.90 points or 0.81 per cent to close at a record high of 26,216.05.

During the day, it soared 246.75 points or 0.94 per cent to hit a fresh intra-day lifetime peak of 26,250.90.

From the 30 Sensex firms, Maruti jumped nearly 5 per cent. Tata Motors, Bajaj Finserv, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Steel, JSW Steel, UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Finance and Nestle were the other big gainers.

Larsen & Toubro and NTPC were the laggards.

Asian markets had a fantastic day at trade, with exchanges in Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong settling with significant gains.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 973.94 crore on Wednesday while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) were buyers as they bought equities worth Rs 1,778.99 crore, according to exchange data.

"There are no immediate near-term triggers that can take the market sharply up or down.

"Up moves may attract selling by FIIs who are likely to move some more money to China and Hong Kong since these markets are cheap and are witnessing an uptrend now," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

But FII selling is unlikely to push the market down significantly since the ample domestic liquidity can easily absorb such selling, Vijayakumar said.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 1.80 per cent to $72.14 a barrel.