New Delhi: Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty hit fresh all-time high levels in early trade on Thursday amid a sharp rally in Asian markets and buying in IT stocks.

The BSE Sensex climbed 202.3 points to reach an all-time record peak of 85,372.17 in early trade. The NSE Nifty went up 51.85 points to hit a fresh lifetime high of 26,056.

From the 30 Sensex firms, Maruti, Nestle, Tata Motors, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, Bajaj Finserv, Tata Consultancy Services, ITC, and Bharti Airtel were the biggest gainers.

Power Grid, NTPC, Tata Steel, and JSW Steel were among the laggards.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 973.94 crore on Wednesday while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) were buyers as they bought equities worth Rs 1,778.99 crore, according to exchange data.

"There are no immediate near-term triggers that can take the market sharply up or down. Up moves may attract selling by FIIs who are likely to move some more money to China and Hong Kong since these markets are cheap and are witnessing an uptrend now," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

But FII selling is unlikely to push the market down significantly since the ample domestic liquidity can easily absorb such selling, Vijayakumar said.

The BSE benchmark climbed 255.83 points, or 0.30 percent, to settle at an all-time high of 85,169.87 on Wednesday. During the day, it surged 333.38 points, or 0.39 percent, to hit a record intra-day peak of 85,247.42.

The Nifty climbed 63.75 points, or 0.25 percent, to close at a record high of 26,004.15. During the day, it went up 92.4 points, or 0.35 percent, to reach a new intra-day peak of 26,032.80.

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