Nifty almost at 20,000 as bulls ensure another record high on Dalal Street

• ITC was the biggest gainer in the Sensex pack, rising nearly 3%.
• Infosys, UltraTech Cement, HCL Technologies were the big laggards.
• Asian peers in Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong ended lower.

Indian equity benchmark indices, the Sensex and the Nifty, scaled fresh record high levels on Thursday, driven by unabated foreign capital inflows and intense buying in banking and FMCG stocks. The NSE Nifty climbed 146 points or 0.74% to end at its record closing high of 19,979.15. During the session, it soared 158.7 points or 0.80% to reach its fresh a record high of 19,991.85.

The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 474.46 points or 0.71% to settle at its fresh all-time closing high of 67,571.90. The benchmark recovered all its early lost ground during the afternoon trade. During the day, it rallied 521.73 points or 0.77% to hit its lifetime intra-day peak of 67,619.17.

ITC was the biggest gainer in the Sensex pack, rising nearly 3%, followed by Kotak Mahindra Bank, ICICI Bank, Maruti, Bharti Airtel, State Bank of India, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, Axis Bank, Reliance Industries, Hindustan Unilever and JSW Steel.

On the other hand, Infosys, UltraTech Cement, HCL Technologies, Bajaj Finserv, Larsen & Toubro, Titan, Tata Consultancy Services and Wipro were the laggards.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) continued their buying activity as they bought equities worth Rs 1,165.47 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong ended lower.

European markets were trading in the green. The US markets ended in the positive territory on Wednesday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.13% to USD 79.56 a barrel.

(With text input from PTI)