Sensex closes above 60K mark for first time, Nifty nears 18K

Equity benchmark indices closed at new record highs on Friday led by gains in IT and realty scrips.

Market analysts said domestic sentiments are buoyant as demand is coming back to normalcy faster than expected.

Ashishkumar Chauhan, Managing Director and CEO of BSE Ltd, said the Sensex reaching 60,000 today first time ever is an indicator of India's growth potential.

"Indian markets are considered the best performing markets world over in last 18 months of COVID period due to astute policies and implementation of government, private sector and everyone else involved," he said.

At the closing bell, the BSE S&P Sensex was up by 163 points or 0.27 per cent at 60,048 while the Nifty 50 gained by 30 points or 0.17 per cent to 17,853.

Sectoral indices were mixed with Nifty realty gaining by 1.5 per cent and IT by 0.8 per cent.

Among stocks, realty major DLF Ltd surged 2.1 per cent to Rs 410.60 per share while Asian Paints moved up 3.7 per cent and Eicher Motors by 3 per cent.

HCL Technology advanced by 2.3 per cent, Infosys by 1.2 per cent and Wipro by 0.3 per cent. Bharti Airtel, Maruti Suzuki, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank too traded with a positive bias.

However, Tata Steel cracked by 3.9 per cent and JSW Steel by 2.6 per cent. Hindalco, Tata Motors, Axis Bank, ITC and Adani Ports lost by over 1 per cent.

Meanwhile, Asian shares were mixed. Japan's Nikkei was up 2.06 per cent while Hong Kong shares fell as Evergrande missing interest payment sparked jitters.

South Korea's Kospi was at near-flat levels.

( With inputs from ANI )