Sensex, Nifty touch all-time high

Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty continued their dream run on Wednesday, reaching record high levels in early trade, driven by foreign fund inflows and optimism in the US markets.

Buying in index majors Reliance Industries and HDFC Bank also helped the markets maintain their winning momentum.

Rallying for the fifth day running, the 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 293.59 points to reach its new all-time intra-day peak of 67,088.73 in early trade. The NSE Nifty gained 80.3 points to hit record intra-day high of 19,829.55.

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From the Sensex pack, NTPC, IndusInd Bank, Infosys, Power Grid, Tech Mahindra, Wipro, Reliance Industries and HDFC Bank were the biggest gainers.

IndusInd Bank quoted nearly 2 per cent higher after the company on Tuesday reported 30 per cent jump in consolidated net profit for April-June at Rs 2,124.50 crore, helped by core income growth and lower bad loan provisions.

Maruti, Mahindra & Mahindra, Asian Paints, Tata Consultancy Services, Bharti Airtel and Nestle were among the laggards.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) continued their buying activity on Tuesday as they bought equities worth Rs 2,115.84 crore, according to exchange data.

"The market continues to be resilient, supported by favourable global set-up and sustained FII inflows. It is important to understand that the ongoing global market rally is primarily driven by the strength of the US economy, which is, so far, showing no signs of recession that the markets had feared and discounted in 2022," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

In India, an extra push is being provided by sustained FII flows, Vijayakumar said.

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

The US markets ended in the positive territory on Tuesday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.21 per cent to USD 79.46 a barrel.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Wednesday retained India's economic growth forecast at 6.4 per cent for the current financial year and 6.7 per cent for the next, saying robust domestic demand will continue to support the region's recovery.

The BSE benchmark had climbed 205.21 points or 0.31 per cent to settle at its new all-time high of 66,795.14 on Tuesday. Nifty gained 37.80 points or 0.19 per cent to end at its all-time high of 19,749.25.