Market rallied to hit an all-time record high at 6,591.50 on heavy buying by funds in frontline banking, energy, auto and metal counters which led the benchmark to gain sharply by 88.60 points at the National Stock Exchange (NSE) today.
Soaring of Nifty during the intra-day trade was supported mainly due to hectic short-covering ahead of March derivative contracts expiring on March 27.
Investors sentiments boosted by unhindered FII inflows on perception of a "market-friendly and stable" government coming to power after general elections.
Another sentiment that boosted the Nifty's performance was the speculation that the Reserve Bank will hold the policy rates due to improved macro-economic parameters in its policy review meeting on April 1.
Today's star performer mainly include banking counters, with indusindbank, ICICI Bank scrips rising 3.99 per cent and 3.68 per cent, respectively.
State-owned natural gas major GAIL climbed 4.92 per cent, while ONGC advanced 4.29 per cent ahead of its board meeting for announcement of interim dividend.
Meanwhile, Foreign institutional investors bought shares worth a net Rs 14.79 crore on last Saturday as per the provisional data from the stock exchanges.
The market opened higher on firm Asian cues and extended its gains during morning trade trading to hit life-time intra-day peak, the indices continued to trade firm during after ended with record highs.
The 50-share Nifty hovered between a high of 6,591.50 points and a low of 6,510.50 points before settling at 6,583.50 points, up 88.60 points or 1.36 per cent over the last close.
Other major gainers were Kotak Bank, NMDC, PNB, Asian Paint, HDFC Bank, Coal India.
Turnover in the cash segment dropped to Rs 11,589.08 crore from Rs 14,654.00 crore last Friday. A total of 5,944.76 lakh shares changed hands in 57,59,308 trades, while market capitalisation stood at Rs 70,51,247 crore.
