Sensex hits fresh record high in early trade on buying in IT stocks

New Delhi: The BSE benchmark Sensex hit its fresh all-time high level in early trade on Friday amid heavy buying in IT stocks and a rally in global markets.

The BSE Sensex climbed 119.38 points to reach a record peak of 85,955.50 in early trade. The NSE Nifty went up 34.5 points to 26,250.55.

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From the 30 Sensex firms, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, Sun Pharma, Tata Consultancy Services and Tata Steel were the biggest gainers.

Power Grid, Larsen & Toubro, Bharti Airtel and Mahindra & Mahindra were among the laggards.

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

The US markets ended in the positive territory on Thursday.

"A significant global market trend is the outperformance of China and Hong Kong this month on hopes that the Chinese stimulus will improve the Chinese economy and valuations in these markets where valuations are cheap now. IT stocks are likely to respond positively to the good guidance of Accenture," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) turned buyers on Thursday as they bought equities worth Rs 629.96 crore, according to exchange data. Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) also bought equities worth Rs 2,405.12 crore.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude dipped 0.24 per cent to USD 71.43 a barrel.

The BSE benchmark jumped 666.25 points or 0.78 percent to settle at an all-time high of 85,836.12 on Thursday. During the day, it reached a record intra-day peak of 85,930.43, surging 760.56 points or 0.89 percent.

The Nifty climbed 211.90 points or 0.81 percent to close at a record high of 26,216.05. During the day, it soared 246.75 points or 0.94 percent to hit a fresh intra-day lifetime peak of 26,250.90.

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