Mumbai, Oct. 31 (PTI): The BSE Sensex galloped to its fresh lifetime high in intra-day trade on Thursday before closing a tad lower as investors kept the faith in IT and banking stocks amid firm global cues.
After scaling a new peak of 40,392.22, the 30-share index pared some gains to settle at 40,129.05, up by 77.18 points, or 0.19 per cent.
The broader NSE Nifty too advanced 33.35 points, or 0.28 per cent, to close at 11,877.45.
Both the key indices maintained their winning run for the fifth session on the trot.
Robust quarterly earnings, strong foreign fund inflows and expectations of steps by the government to shore up growth buoyed market sentiment, traders said.
The US Federal Reserve's decision to cut its benchmark interest rate for the third straight time added to the momentum. However, the indices turned volatile in the last hour of the session as October futures and options contracts expired, they added.
Yes Bank was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, soaring 24.03 per cent, after the lender said it had received a binding offer for USD 1.2 billion (approximately INR 8,500 crore) funding from an overseas investor.
SBI, Infosys, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, HCL Tech and HDFC too rallied up to 7.69 per cent.
On the other hand, Tech Mahindra, Axis Bank, Tata Steel, M&M and ICICI Bank fell up to 2.09 per cent.
World stocks surged to 20-month highs after the US Fed slashed interest rates, even as it dimmed hopes of another rate cut in December.
"Market is slowly marching towards the all-time high supported by quarter earnings and government's measures to attract equity investments. Additionally, strong economic factors like favourable inflation, interest rate and benign oil prices will support the market sentiment in the long term.
"Strengthening rupee along with increasing FIIs inflow is indicating a change in FIIs' negative stance towards emerging markets," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit Financial Services
Sectorally, BSE teck, telecom, IT, realty and healthcare indices rose up to 1.97 per cent, while metal, energy and capital goods fell up to 0.51 per cent.
Broader BSE midcap and smallcap indices ended up to 1.14 per cent higher.
Foreign institutional investors pumped in a net INR 7,192.42 crore into the capital market on Wednesday, while domestic institutional investors sold shares worth INR 185.87 crore, data available with stock exchange showed.
Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo ended on a positive note amid, while Shanghai closed in the red.
Exchanges in Europe were trading on a negative note in their respective early deals.
