Benchmark stock indices put their best foot forward on Thursday as they got off to a fresh record high, in line with hardening global cues.

The government's move to slash extra borrowing continued to keep the optimism level high.

The BSE Sensex soared 394 points to its fresh life high 35,476.70 in early trade while the NSE Nifty was above the 10,850 mark.

As many as 34 stocks in the Nifty basket were trading in the green, with Hero MotoCorp jumping 2 per cent, followed by HDFC Bank (up 1.85 per cent), State Bank of India (1.48 per cent), Axis Bank (1.46 per cent) and ICICI Bank (1.43 per cent).

On the other hand, Bharti Infratel, Infosys, GAIL, HPCL and Hindalco were down between 0.70 per cent and 3 per cent.

Mobile tower firm Bharti Infratel on Wednesday reported a 6 per cent fall in consolidated net profit at Rs 585 crore for the December quarter on higher costs. The company's net profit for October-December last fiscal was Rs 620 crore.

Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, Bharti Airtel, Hindustan Zinc, UltraTech Cement and Yes Bank will come out with their quarterly results later in the day.

Asian shares extended their gains, reflecting US stocks, which rose to fresh highs on Wednesday as companies bet on the tax overhaul boosting their earnings this year.

Dhiraj Relli, MD & CEO, HDFC Securities, said, "The lowering's of additional borrowing requirement for the current fiscal to Rs 20, 000 crore from Rs 50,000 crore estimated earlier was welcomed by the market participants, with the BFSI segment leading the pack. It is remarkable that markets are rising in the phase of adverse expectations and scaling the 35,000 mark for the Sensex is an important landmark."

Expecting an earnings growth of 21.5 per cent next fiscal, domestic stock brokerage HDFC Securities has set the Nifty target at 11,800 for fiscal 2019.

The domestic stock brokerage expects Nifty earnings to grow by 13.5 per cent this fiscal, from 10.4 per cent a year ago.