Nifty hits 24k level; Sensex breaches historic 79,000-mark

Mumbai: Benchmark indices rallied on Thursday, with the Sensex breaching the historic 79,000-mark and the Nifty hitting the 24,000-level for the first time ever, amid buying in blue-chip stocks.

The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 512.68 points to hit its new lifetime peak of 79,186.93 after falling in early trade, helped by buying in blue-chip Reliance Industries.

The Nifty also bounced back, rising 146.45 points to hit its fresh all-time high of 24,015.25.

Among the 30 Sensex companies, UltraTech Cement, JSW Steel, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services and Reliance Industries were the biggest gainers.

Larsen & Toubro, Maruti, Adani Ports and Mahindra & Mahindra were among the laggards.

"The market will remain bullish in the near-term despite the valuation concerns, and the ongoing momentum has the potential to take the Sensex to 80,000 levels.

"A healthy trend in the market is that now the up move is being led by fundamentally strong largecaps in sectors like banking and telecom. With RIL, which had not participated in the rally till yesterday joining the bull bandwagon, the rally has the strength to continue," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading lower.

US markets ended in positive territory on Wednesday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 3,535.43 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.20 per cent to $85.08 a barrel.

The BSE benchmark Sensex climbed 620.73 points or 0.80 per cent to settle at a new closing peak of 78,674.25 on Wednesday. The Nifty went up by 147.50 points or 0.62 per cent to settle at a record closing peak of 23,868.80.