Sensex hits new all-time high; Nifty breaches 23,000-mark for first time

Mumbai: Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty hit their fresh all-time peaks in early trade on Friday amid buoyant investors' sentiment days ahead of the results of the Lok Sabha polls announcement and fresh foreign fund inflows.

The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 164.24 points to hit its all-time high of 75,582.28 in early trade. The NSE Nifty went up by 36.4 points to breach the 23,000 mark for the first time ever. It hit its lifetime peak of 23,004.05.

From the Sensex firms, Bajaj Finance, Larsen & Toubro, Tata Steel, State Bank of India, HDFC Bank and Bharti Airtel were the major gainers.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services, Maruti and JSW Steel were among the laggards.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) turned buyers on Thursday after days of offloading equities. They bought equities worth Rs 4,670.95 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.

The results of the ongoing general elections will be declared on June 4.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading lower.

Wall Street ended in negative territory on Thursday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.05 per cent to USD 81.40 a barrel.

"Yesterday, Nifty neared the 23,000 mark, driven by investor optimism about the current regime's continuation in the upcoming general elections," said Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd.

With nearly a fortnight left for the results of Lok Sabha polls, benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty zoomed more than 1.6 per cent to close at lifetime high levels on Thursday.

Regaining the 75,000 level, the BSE Sensex ended at an all-time peak of 75,418.04, up by 1,196.98 points or 1.61 per cent. The NSE Nifty inched closer to the 23,000 mark during the day on Thursday. The 50-issue index went up by 369.85 points or 1.64 per cent to 22,967.65.