Benchmark Nifty breached the key 9,500-level to hit a new record high of 9,517.05, while the Sensex surged to a fresh life-time high of 30,591 on early arrival of rains and persistent foreign inflows.

At 2.55 pm, the 30-share BSE index Sensex was up 226.44 points or 0.75 per cent at 30,548.56 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was up 58.35 points or 0.62 per cent at 9,503.75.

Among BSE sectoral indices, realty index gained the most by 1.07 per cent, followed by metal 1.03 per cent, FMCG 0.95 per cent and IT 0.94 per cent, while only metal index was down 0.59 per cent.

Top five Sensex gainers were Bharti Airtel (+2.91%), Hero MotoCorp (+2.62%), TCS (+2.61%), ITC (+2.34%) and State Bank of India (+2.11%), while the major losers were ONGC (-1.02%), Coal India (-0.97%), M&M (-0.65%), Asian Paints (-0.41%) and Adani Ports (-0.32%).

Record-setting spree

Indian shares continued their record-setting spree on Tuesday, hitting all-time highs for the third time in five sessions, as investors remained bullish about the prospects of a good monsoon.

Monsoon rains are expected to arrive on the southern Kerala coast on May 30, two days ahead of the schedule, a source from the weather office said on Tuesday.

India looks likely to receive higher monsoon rainfall than previously forecast as concern over the El Nino weather condition has eased, an official from the weather office had told Reuters last week.

Local shares also tracked gains in Asian peers, which hit two-year highs on the back of an overnight rise on Wall Street.

“If you see now, investors are bullish about the market since corporate earnings have been in line with expectations as well as the anticipation of good rains this year,” said Rakesh Tarway, head of research at Reliance Securities.

Asian shares

Asian stocks briefly climbed to a fresh-two year high on Tuesday on the back of an overnight rise in Wall Street, while oil extended gains after major producers Saudi Arabia and Russia said supply cuts needed to continue into 2018.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged down 0.1 per cent after hitting its highest level since June 2015 in opening trades. Australian stocks were among rare gainers in the region due to strength in commodity-linked shares.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq notched record closing highs on Monday, powered by demand for technology stocks after a global cyber attack and by rising oil prices.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 85.33 points, or 0.41 per cent, at 20,981.94, the S&P 500 gained 11.42 points, or 0.48 per cent, to 2,402.32 and the Nasdaq Composite added 28.44 points, or 0.46 per cent, to 6,149.67.