The BSE Sensex today closed above the 28,000-mark for the first time and the Nifty touched 8,400-level with sustained buying by foreign funds in auto, banking, FMCG and consumer durable stocks amid hopes of easing inflation and encouraging IIP numbers.
Continuing its surge for the third day, the BSE Sensex hit fresh life-time high of 28,126.48. After paring some gains, the 30-share index settled at an all-time closing high of 28,008.90, up by 98.84 points, or 0.35 per cent, over the previous close. It surpassed the earlier record closing of 27,915.88 touched on November 5.
The gauge had gained 41.43 points in the previous two sessions.
It took 45 trading sessions from September 2 to November 12 to reach the psychological 28,000-level from 27,000.
The NSE Nifty crossed the key 8,400-mark for the first time to hit an all-time high of 8,415.05, breaching its earlier record of 8,383.05 on November 10.
However, some profit-booking at record levels trimmed part of gains but the Nifty ended at a new record high of 8,383.30, up 20.65 points. It surpassed its previous closing peak of 8,362.65 in yesterday's trade.
A host of positive developments on domestic as well as global fronts buoyed the market and lifted key indices to new highs.
Brokers said sentiment remained positive and foreign funds continued their buying spree on the domestic bourses and retail investors enlarged positions amid strong quarterly earnings posted by blue-chip companies and hopes of further push to economic reforms by the Centre after the recent Cabinet reshuffle.
Further, expectations of encouraging economic data such as inflation for October and IIP numbers for September, to be released after market hours today, buoyed trading sentiments, they said.
Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) remained the main driving force behind the current bull-run. FPIs bought shares worth a net Rs 458.04 crore yesterday, according to provisional data from the stock exchanges.
Sensex components which supported the key indices to hit fresh life-time high were Axis Bank (3.02 pc), Bajaj Auto (2.10 pc), HDFC Ltd (1.12 pc), SBI (0.17 pc), ICICI Bank (1.33 pc), HDFC Bank (0.44 pc), ITC Ltd (1.55 pc), Bharti Airtel (0.64 pc), BHEL (0.88 pc), Coal India (0.10 pc), Dr Reddy (0.58 pc), Hero MotoCorp (1.50 pc), Tata Motors (1.71 pc) and TCS (0.55 pc).
Sectorwise, BSE Auto index gained the most by rising 1.18 per cent, followed by Bank index 1.12 per cent, FMCG 0.96 per cent and Consumer Durables index 0.55 per cent.
Buying activity in small and midcap also gathered momentum, with the BSE midcap index rising by 0.47 per cent and smallcap index by 0.20 per cent.
