Benchmark indices hit fresh record highs on Thursday with Nifty closing shy of the coveted 23,000 mark. Buying was seen across the sectors barring metal and pharma.

Sensex opened higher at 74,253.53, and took a momentarily dipped to touch an intraday low of 74,158.35. It, however, rallied consistently through the day and touched the fresh record high at 75,499.91.

It surpassed its previous all-time high of 75,124.28 that it had touched on 9 April.

Nifty 50 opened higher at 22,614.10, and sustaining a consistent rally climbed to an all-time high of 22,993.60. However, at close, the Nifty 50 was at 22,967.65, up 369.85 points, or 1.64 per cent.

All other sectoral indices, barring metal and pharma, ended in the green with auto, bank and capital goods up 2% each.

Financial Services, IT, Realty, Consumer Durables, and Oil & Gas indices had climbed over 1%.

The broader market indices had climbed higher. BSE MidCap index gaining 0.57% and the BSE SmallCap gaining 0.27%.

Among individual stocks, a volume spike of more than 300% was seen in GMR Airports Infrastructure, ITC, Jubilant FoodWorks.

On Nifty50, only Seven stocks including Sun Pharma, Power Grid Corp., Hindalco Industries, Coal India, NTPC, Tata Consumer Products, and JSW Steel were trading in the red.

Adani Enterprise, Adani Ports & SEZ, Larsen & Toubro, Maruti Suzuki India, and Axis Bank were the top gainers.

Further, a long build-up was seen in Adani Enterprises, Adani Ports and Voltas, while a short build-up was seen in Deepak Nitrite, Lupin and Vedanta.

The market capitalisation of all listed companies and traded on the Bombay Stock Exchange shot up 61% since the end of March 2023.

Also, India’s mcap-to-GDP ratio has hit a 15-year high of 140.2%, up sharply from 95.8% at the end of March 2023, with the total valuation of all BSE-listed companies reaching $5 trillion or over Rs 414.46 trillion on May 21 as against India’s GDP at current prices of Rs 296.6 trillion in FY24.

FMCG giant, ITC, announced its results for Q4FY24 along with a final dividend of Rs 7.50 per equity share for FY24.

Shares of the state-run Power Grid plunged over 4% in early trade, as the market digested the public-sector power major’s weak earnings report for the quarter ended March.

On the global parameter, European stocks and US futures climbed after upbeat earnings from Nvidia Corp.

Europe’s Stoxx 600 climbed 0.3%, pulled higher by a jump in the tech sector. Futures on the S&P 500 pointed to a 0.5% gain at the Wall Street open.