The NSE Nifty hit yet another lifetime high of 6,808.70 in pre-close trade today on a strong rally led by pharma and banking stocks, aided by sustained foreign capital inflows amidst IMF's forecast of better growth prospects for India in 2014.
The 50-issue NSE Nifty soared 113.65 points, or 1.69 per cent, to trade at an all-time high of 6,808.70, surpassing its previous intra-day high of 6,776.75 reached on April 3.
Brokers said sentiments was buoyed by sustained capital inflows and widespread buying by retail investors after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said India's growth is expected to recover from 4.4 per cent in 2013 to 5.4 per cent in 2014.
Further, a higher opening on the European markets influenced the trading sentiments here, they said.
The benchmark BSE Sensex too touched a new lifetime high of 22,740.04, by rising 396.59 points, or 1.77 per cent intra day. It had touched an intra-day record high of 22,620.65 on April 3.
Stocks of Sun Pharma continued to rise and climbed 6.78 per cent to Rs 628 as a brokerage firm upgraded it after the pharma major entered into a deal to acquire Ranbaxy Laboratories.
Other gainers at the Nifty included Bank of Baroda, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Ltd, Tata Steel, Cairn India, Reliance Industries, ONGC, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Bajaj Auto, Tata Power and Larsen and Toubro.
Among other Asian markets, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was up 1.09 per cent while Japan's Nikkei fell by 2.10 per cent.
