Sensex, Nifty hit all-time highs in early trade.

Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty hit fresh all-time highs in early trade on Thursday amid a massive rally in Asian markets and buying in IT stocks.

The BSE Sensex surged 202.3 points to touch an all-time high of 85,372.17 in early trade. The NSE Nifty rose 51.85 points to hit a fresh lifetime high of 26,056.

Among the 30 Sensex firms, Maruti, Nestle, Tata Motors, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, Bajaj Finserv, Tata Consultancy Services, ITC and Bharti Airtel were the top gainers. Power Grid, NTPC, Tata Steel and JSW Steel are lagging behind. In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong traded with significant gains.

Most of the US markets ended in losses on Wednesday. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) on Wednesday invested Rs. 973.94 crore worth of equities were offloaded, while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) were the buyers as they bought Rs. 1,778.99 crore worth of equities were bought, according to exchange data.

“There are no immediate near-term triggers that could take the market sharply up or down. As these markets are cheap and now seeing an uptrend, the up move may attract selling by FIIs who are likely to move more money to China and Hong Kong,” said Chief Investment Strategist VK Vijayakumar.

But FII selling is unlikely to depress the market significantly as ample domestic liquidity can easily absorb such selling, Vijayakumar said. Global oil benchmark Brent crude rose 0.08 percent to $73.52 a barrel.

The BSE benchmark rose 255.83 points, or 0.30 percent, to settle at an all-time high of 85,169.87 on Wednesday. During the day, it gained 333.38 points or 0.39 percent to touch an intra-day high of 85,247.42.

The Nifty rose 63.75 points or 0.25 percent to close at a record high of 26,004.15. During the day, it gained 92.4 points or 0.35 percent to touch a new intra-day high of 26,032.80.