BSE Sensex on Tuesday, December 26.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Sensex and Nifty soared to fresh closing record highs on Wednesday, with the 30-share benchmark index crossing the historic 72,000 mark, boosted by optimism over the country’s macroeconomic fundamentals and firm global market trends.

Reflecting broader investor bullishness, the 50-share index surged to a record high of 21,654.75 on intense buying in metal, commodity, auto and banking sectors.

Rising for the fourth straight session, the BSE gauge jumped 701.63 points or 0.98% to settle at its all-time closing high of 72,038.43. During the day, it zoomed 783.05 points or 1.09% to reach its intra-day lifetime high of 72,119.85.

The Nifty climbed 213.40 points or 1% to settle at a record high of 21,654.75. During the day, it rallied 234.4 points or 1.09% to reach its all-time intra-day peak of 21,675.75.

Among the Sensex firms, UltraTech Cement, JSW Steel, Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, State Bank of India, Larsen & Toubro, Infosys and Bajaj Finserv were the major gainers.

On the other hand, NTPC and Tech Mahindra were the laggards.

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

European markets were mostly trading in positive territory. The U.S. markets ended in the green on Tuesday.

“The upbeat domestic market continued reaching a new record high and easily recovered the last week’s losses. This upward trend was predominantly supported by the Santa Claus rally in anticipation of early rate cuts by the U.S. Fed and cooling global inflation,” said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.21% to $80.90 a barrel.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹95.20 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.

The BSE benchmark climbed 229.84 points or 0.32% to settle at 71,336.80 on Tuesday. The Nifty advanced 91.95 points or 0.43% to 21,441.35.