Opening bell: At 67,774 Sensex hits new all-time high; Nifty at fresh peak of 20,173

Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty hit new record peaks in early trade on Friday, helped by a rally in global markets and fresh foreign inflows.

Rallying for the 11th day running, the 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 255.46 points to hit its fresh all-time high of 67,774.46 in early trade. The Nifty went up by 70.05 points to reach its new lifetime peak of 20,173.15.

Among the Sensex firms, HCL Technologies, Tata Motors, Wipro, HDFC Bank, Tech Mahindra, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and Mahindra & Mahindra were the major gainers.

Asian Paints, Hindustan Unilever, Titan and Axis Bank were among the laggards.

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

The US markets ended in positive territory on Thursday.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) turned buyers on Thursday as they bought equities worth ₹294.69 crore, according to exchange data.

“The participation of blue chips like Infosys, RIL, L&T, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank has imparted resilience to the ongoing rally. Even though the undercurrent of the market is bullish the high valuations and new risks like surging crude and rising dollar index can impact the market negatively.

“Brent crude at USD 94 is a major macro worry which the market cannot ignore for long,” V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.82 per cent to USD 94.47 a barrel.

The BSE benchmark had climbed 52.01 points or 0.08 per cent to settle at 67,519 on Thursday. The Nifty advanced 33.10 points or 0.16 per cent to end at its all-time closing high of 20,103.10.