Sensex crosses 54,000 for first time; Nifty soars past 16,200

Equity benchmark Sensex rallied over 400 points in early trade on Wednesday and soared past the 54,000 mark, led by gains in index majors Infosys, HDFC and ICICI Bank amid a positive trend in global markets.

After scaling its lifetime peak of 54,256.13 in opening trade, the 30-share index was trading 415.33 points or 0.77 per cent higher at 54,238.69 in initial deals.

In tandem, the broader NSE Nifty surged 116.10 points or 0.72 per cent to an all-time peak of 16,246.85 in early trade.

Tata Steel was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising around 2 per cent, followed by HDFC, ICICI Bank, Dr Reddy's, Infosys, Reliance Industries and HDFC Bank.

On the other hand, Bharti Airtel, Nestle India, SBI, HUL and UltraTech Cement were among the laggards.

In the previous session, Sensex ended 872.73 points or 1.65 per cent higher at its fresh closing record of 53,823.36, and Nifty rallied 245.60 points or 1.55 per cent to an all-time peak of 16,130.75.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) turned net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth Rs 2,116.60 crore on Tuesday, as per provisional exchange data.

Domestic equities continue to look good as of now, said Binod Modi Head-Strategy at Reliance Securities.

"Key economic indicators like GST collection, auto sales volume and other high-frequency indicators like e-way bills indicate a strong rebound in July, which bodes well and indicates sustained healthy corporate earnings in subsequent quarters," he noted.

Further, Modi added that India stands to be benefitted from China's regulatory crackdown on technology and education companies in recent weeks in the form of FIIs investments.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul were trading with gains in mid-session deals, while Tokyo was in the red.

Equities on Wall Street too ended on a positive note in overnight trade.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude advanced 0.11 per cent to USD 72.49 per barrel.