MUMBAI — Indian equity indices closed at a record high on Wednesday following a rally in media and energy stocks.
During the market hours, the Sensex and Nifty registered a new all-time high of 78,759 and 23,889 respectively.
At closing, Sensex was up 620 points or 0.80 per cent, at 78,674 and Nifty was up 147 points or 0.62 per cent, at 23,868.
Among the sectoral indices, media, energy, PSU bank, fin services and pharma were major gainers.
Auto, metal, realty and IT were major laggards.
The performance of midcap and smallcap stocks was weak compared to largecap.
The Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 122 points or 0.22 per cent to 55,245. However, the Nifty Smallcap 100 index closed 45 points or 0.25 per cent higher at 18,288.
According to market experts, "The domestic market hit a new peak, bolstered by a rally in largecap stocks, where the valuation is relatively fair. In contrast, midcap and smallcap stocks saw profit-taking due to valuation concerns."
Bharti Airtel, UltraTech Cement, ICICI Bank, Sun Pharma, Axis Bank and NTPC were the top gainers.
M&M, Tata Steel, Tech Mahindra, and JSW Steel were the top losers.
Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst, LKP Securities said, "The Nifty continued to rise as the bulls maintained control, pushing the index to a new all-time high. The sentiment is likely to remain positive as long as it stays above 23,700."
"On the higher end, a decisive move above 24,000 could take the index towards 24,200," he added.