Sensex, Nifty touch all-time high levels in early trade

Mumbai: Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty hit their record high levels in early trade on Wednesday amid a rally in the US markets and fresh foreign fund inflows.

Buying in market heavyweight stocks like Reliance Industries and HDFC Bank also added to the positive momentum.

Extending its previous day's rally, the 30-share BSE Sensex advanced 299.97 points to hit its all-time high of 63,716 in early trade. The NSE Nifty climbed 90.75 points to reach its lifetime peak of 18,908.15.

From the Sensex pack, Titan, Bajaj Finance, State Bank of India, ITC, Larsen & Toubro, IndusInd Bank, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Steel and Infosys were among the major gainers.

Tech Mahindra, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HCL Technologies, Power Grid and NTPC were the laggards.

In Asian markets, Tokyo quoted in the green while Seoul, Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading lower.

The US markets ended significantly higher on Tuesday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.61 per cent to USD 72.70 a barrel.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 2,024.05 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.

The BSE benchmark jumped 446.03 points or 0.71 per cent to settle at 63,416.03 on Tuesday. The Nifty climbed 126.20 points or 0.68 per cent to end at 18,817.40.