Stock market highlights: Domestic equities traded in a thin range for better part of the day on Wednesday, but picked pace towards the fag-end of the session amid buying in HDFC Bank, Infosys, Bharti Airtel, Ultratech Cement, L&T, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, SBI, Axis Bank, and M&M.
The Nifty50 index hit a fresh record high of 21,676 in the intra-day trade, ending mildly lower than this level at 21,655, up 213 points or 1 per cent.
The S&P BSE Sensex, meanwhile, claimed a new lifetime high of 72,098. It ended at 72,038, up 702 points or 0.98 per cent.
The broader markets, though rose in tandem with the frontline indices, underperformed them in session today. The BSE MidCap index added 0.41 per cent, and the BSE SmallCap index rose 0.20 per cent.
Among sectors, the Nifty PSU Bank index gained 2 per cent, the Nifty Auto index 1.38 per cent, the Nifty Metal index 1.39 per cent, and the Nifty bank index 1.13 per cent.