Market benchmark Nifty surged past the 9,300-level for the first time today, fuelled by a rally in Reliance Industries and other bluechips on upbeat earnings.

Positive Asian cues and a higher opening in European markets also added to the momentum.

Domestic sentiment was also buoyed as rupee hit 64.21 against the dollar (intra-day) at the forex market.

The 50-share NSE Nifty soared 82.45 points or 0.89 per cent to quote at its new lifetime high of 9,300.40. It broke the previous record of 9,273.90 reached on April 5.

At 2.30 p.m., the 30-share BSE index Sensex was up 255.51 points or 0.86 per cent at 29,911.35 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was up 78.75 points or 0.85 per cent at 9,296.40.

Among BSE sectoral indices, FMCG index was the star-performer and was up 1.44 per cent, followed by oil & gas 1.14 per cent, realty 0.94 per cent and auto 0.92 per cent, while only metal index was down 0.04 per cent.

Top five Sensex gainers were M&M (+3.44%), Bharti Airtel (+2.83%), Hero MotoCorp (+2.57%), Asian Paints (+2.42%) and Power Grid (+2.2%), while the major losers were TCS (-0.9%), NTPC (-0.54%), Cipla (-0.2%), Sun Pharma (-0.12%) and ONGC (-0.03%).

Reliance Industries Ltd climbed as much as 3.6 per cent to its highest since May 2008, making it the biggest gainer on the NSE index, after the oil-to-telecoms conglomerate on Monday posted a 12.8 per cent rise in fourth-quarter profit, beating expectations.

The rupee, meanwhile, strengthened to as much as 64.2750 per dollar, its highest since April 13, compared with its close at 64.44 on Monday.

Sentiment was also bolstered as Asian markets hit multi-year highs, reflecting the return of risk appetite after a centrist victory in the first round of the French presidential election.

“Global markets have been very positive on news from the French election,” said Tirthankar Patnaik, India strategist, Mizuho Bank.

Quarterly results have also been decent so far, adding to the optimism in the market, he said.

Early trade

Benchmark Sensex surged 148 points to 29,803.90 while the Nifty hit a record high of 9,279.80 on persistent buying on the back of overnight rally on the Wall Street.

Positive Asian cues also boosted the market sentiment.

Asian shares

Asian equities advanced on Tuesday as the return of risk appetite following a centrist victory in the first round of the French presidential election lifted several regional markets to multi-year highs, while the euro retained most of its overnight gains.

Safe-haven assets, including the yen and gold remained under pressure, while the Canadian dollar fell after the US announced new duties averaging 20 per cent on Canadian softwood lumber imports. The Canadian currency tumbled to a four-month low as the US dollar strengthened 0.4 per cent to C$1.3554.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.35 per cent to its highest level in more than three weeks, marking four straight days of gains.