MUMBAI: The benchmark BSE Sensex hit a new lifetime intra-day high of 22,046.58 in late morning trade amid a rally in banking, PSUs and oil & gas sector stocks, driven by sustained capital inflows. The 50-share NSE Nifty also gained 86 points to touch a new record high of 6,580.90.

The Sensex shot up by 291.26 points to 22,046.58, surpassing its previous intra-day record high of 22,040.72 reached on March 18. Brokers said sustained capital inflows by foreign funds at the domestic bourses helped the key indices to touch new highs. Further, a firming trend in other Asian markets also buoyed the trading sentiments here, they said.

Major gainers were ICICI Bank, State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, ONGC, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Bajaj Auto, Tata Power and Larsen and Toubro. Sectorally, the BSE banking sector index gained the most, jumping 2.16 per cent, followed by PSUs sector index (1.32 per cent), oil and gas (1.30 per cent), auto index (0.62 per cent), power index (0.94 per cent) and metal index (0.64 per cent).

Most Asian shares surrendered initial gains in their early trade after the China HSBC flash manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) fell to an eight-month low in March. Key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Japan and South Korea rose by 0.01-1.83 per cent while the Taiwan Weighted fell 0.06 per cent. U.S. stocks dropped last Friday on a sell-off in the healthcare sector but major equity indexes still posted solid weekly gains.

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