Sensex, Nifty touch fresh all-time high levels in early trade

MUMBAI: Benchmark equity indices hit their fresh all-time high levels in early trade on Friday, helped by foreign fund inflows and positive trends in the global markets.

Buying in index major Infosys and HDFC Bank also helped markets maintain their winning momentum.

Rallying for the third straight day, the 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 499.42 points to reach its lifetime high of 64,414.84 in early trade. The NSE Nifty climbed 136.1 points to hit its all-time peak of 19,108.20.

From the Sensex pack, Power Grid, Infosys, Asian Paints, Mahindra & Mahindra, HCL Technologies, IndusInd Bank, Tech Mahindra, Bajaj Finance, Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services, HDFC Bank and Titan were the major gainers.

Tata Steel and Bharti Airtel were the laggards.

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

The US markets ended mostly with gains on Thursday.

"The global support to the bullishness is coming from the mother market US where the market is resilient supported by better-than-expected Q1 GDP growth of 2% and declining weekly jobless claims.

"This resilience of the US economy, which was not anticipated and discounted by the market, is the strongest pillar of support for the global markets now," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.40 per cent to USD 74.64 a barrel.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 12,350 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

The BSE benchmark had surged 499.39 points or 0.79 per cent to settle at its lifetime closing high of 63,915.42 on Wednesday. The Nifty climbed 154.70 points or 0.82 per cent to end at a record high of 18,972.10.

Markets were closed on Thursday on account of Eid al-Adha also known as Bakrid