Heavy buying in banking and FMCG shares; Sensex gains 545 points

Benchmark BSE Sensex breached the historic 80,000 level intraday for the first time while Nifty raced more than 162 points to a fresh lifetime high on Wednesday following heavy buying in banking and FMCG shares amid firm global market trends.

The 30-share Sensex hit the historic 80,000 mark for the first time earlier in the day. It surged 632.85 points or 0.79 per cent to hit a record intraday high of 80,074.30.

The index later closed near the 80,000 level at 79,986.80, up by 545.35 points or 0.69 per cent over the last close.

The BSE Sensex breached the 78,000 level on June 25 and 79,000 for the first time on June 27.

The Nifty climbed 162.65 points or 0.67 per cent to an all-time high of 24,286.50.

During the day, it zoomed 183.4 points or 0.76 per cent to hit a fresh intraday record peak of 24,307.25.

Among the Sensex pack, Adani Ports, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, State Bank of India, Power Grid, JSW Steel, Bajaj Finance and Tata Steel were the biggest gainers.

Tata Consultancy Services, Titan, Reliance Industries, Tata Motors and Larsen & Toubro were the laggards.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong settled in the positive territory while Shanghai ended lower.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.09 per cent to $86.32 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 2,000.12 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.