The benchmark BSE Sensex hit a fresh record high of 33,340.17 and the NSE index Nifty scaled a record peak of 10,383.10 with encouraging quarterly earnings sending out a positive signal among investors.

Positive Asian shares, buying by domestic institutional investors and F&O rollovers to November series also aided the uptrend.

Domestic sentiment was also buoyed as CLSA has increased the weightage on India in the firm's Asia Pacific ex-Japan relative return portfolio by two percentage points. Reaffirming an overweight stance on India, Goldman Sachs has raised its Nifty target to 11,600 by the end of 2018 from 10,900 by the September 2018 it had forecast earlier.

At 3.05 p.m., the 30-share BSE index Sensex was up 125.65 points or 0.38 per cent at 33,282.87 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was up 47.95 points or 0.46 per cent at 10,371.

Barring FMCG and metal, all other BSE sectoral indices were trading the positive zone. Among them, consumer durables index was the star-performer and was up 2.38 per cent, followed by realty 1.94 per cent, oil & gas 1.14 per cent and infrastructure 1.11 per cent. On the other hand, FMCG index was down 0.36 per cent and metal 0.2 per cent.

Top five Sensex gainers were Lupin (+3.01%), ONGC (+1.77%), Bharti Airtel (+1.72%), Dr Reddy's (+1.7%) and Tata Motors (+1.27%), while the major losers were ITC (-1.58%), HUL (-1.54%), Tata Steel (-1.31%), Wipro (-1.3%) and M&M (-0.77%).

State Bank of India rose 3.6 per cent, while Punjab National Bank gained over 8 per cent on hopes that the government's capital infusion will help them clean up their balance sheets.

Sentiment was also upbeat in domestic and global energy stocks with Brent crude hitting its highest level since July 2015 after Saudi Arabia agreed to support the extension of a global oil production cut agreement.

Reliance Industries surged as much as 1.7 per cent and was the top gainer in the index.

“It's a hope rally (for state-run banks),” said Sumit Pokharna, deputy vice president, Kotak Securities.

“Money is shifting from private banks to PSU banks,” he added, referring to public sector union banks, as state-run lenders are often called in India.

Stocks in focus

HDFC, Tata Steel, Lupin, Marico, IDFC, Wockhardt, Central Bank, Bharat Electronics, LIC Housing Finance, and EIH are some of the companies scheduled to announce quarterly results today.

Asian shares

Asian shares climbed on Monday and crude oil rose to a two-year top, while the euro loitered around a three-month low as the European Central Bank’s decision to extend its stimulus further fattened the dollar’s yield advantage.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia–Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.2 per cent. The index is up 3.4 per cent so far this month. Japan’s Nikkei nudged 0.2 per cent higher, while Seoul shares climbed 0.7 per cent.

US stocks had settled higher on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 33.33 points, or 0.14 per cent, to 23,434.19, the S&P500 index gained 20.67.22 points, or 0.81 per cent, to 2,581.07 and the Nasdaq Composite added 144.49 points, or 2.20 per cent, to 6,701.26.