The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 indexes closed at record highs for the third session in a row on Wednesday, led by gains in auto and metal shares. The benchmarks traded in a choppy manner during most of the day, with a negative bias. However, late buying in banking shares reversed the trend for the benchmarks. The Sensex rose as much as 449 points from day's lowest level to hit an all-time high of 47,807.85 and Nifty 50 index touched a record high of 13,997.
The Sensex ended 133 points higher at an all-time closing high of 47,746.22 and Nifty 50 index climbed 49 points to settle at a record high of 13,981.95.
A gush of liquidity by foreign investors is lifting the benchmarks to new highs on a daily basis, analysts said. In Tuesday's trading session, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth Rs 2,350 crore. So far this calendar year, FIIs have purchased Indian equities worth $22.44 billion while they have been net sellers in debt markets to the tune of $14 billion, data from NSDL showed.
Seven of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended higher, led by the Nifty Auto index's 1.3 per cent gain. The Nifty Metal, Realty and FMCG indexes also rose 0.4-1.3 per cent each.
On the other hand, banking and pharma indexes closed marginally lower.
Mid- and small-cap stocks also witnessed buying interest as Nifty Midcap 100 index rose 0.2 per cent and Nifty Smallcap 100 index advanced 0.7 per cent.
UltraTech Cement was the top Nifty gainer; the stock rose 4.4 per cent to close at Rs 5,374. Grasim Industries, Shree Cements, Bajaj Finance, Eicher Motors, UPL, Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tech Mahindra and Asian Paints also rose 1.4-3 per cent each.
On the flip side, IndusInd Bank, Sun Pharma, Axis Bank, State Bank of India, Bharti Airtel, TCS, GAIL India and Cipla were among the notable losers.
The overall market breadth was positive as 1,671 shares ended higher and 1,282 closed lower on the BSE.
