Markets sustained the bull run in the early trade on Tuesday with the Sensex scaling 250 points and Nifty keeping up its record surge on an upbeat investor sentiment and ebbing out of the second Covid wave.

The 30-share S&P BSE benchmark was trading 271.72 points or 0.52 per cent higher at 52,209.16 in initial deals, tracking gains in index-heavyweights HDFC twins, Reliance Industries and SBI amid a mixed trend in other Asian markets. The 50-share NSE index climbed 69.70 points or 0.45 per cent to 15,652.50 in the opening hours.

Bajaj Auto was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising more than 2 per cent, followed by SBI, HDFC, Bajaj Finance, L&T, Reliance Industries and IndusInd Bank. On the other hand, Infosys, TCS, Nestle India, Dr Reddy’s were among the laggards.

Sensex ended 514.56 points or 1 per cent higher at 51,937.44, and the broader NSE Nifty surged 147.15 points or 0.95 per cent to its fresh closing record of 15,582.80 at the close on Monday.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers in the capital market as they bought shares worth 2,412.39 crore on Monday, as per provisional exchange data.

“The ongoing bull run in the market has taken even the incorrigible optimists by surprise. FIIs, regarded as smart investors, have been caught on the wrong foot,” said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Their sustained selling from early April to mid-May has proved to be a wrong strategy and, therefore, now they are making amends through heavy purchases. Massive FII buying in the cash market is an indication of the likely direction of this market, he said.

The market rally has been greatly fuelled by a steady waning of the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. India reported 1,27,510 fresh cases of infection in the last 24 hours, the lowest in 54 days, while the daily positivity rate dropped 10 per cent in the last eight days to 6.62 per cent, according to the Union health ministry.

India’s tally of Coronavirus cases rose to 2,81,75,044 on Tuesday, with 2,795 fresh fatalities driving the death toll up to 3,31,895. The loss of life in the last 24 hours has been the lowest reported in 35 days.

India’s active cases were recorded below 20 lakh after 43 days, while the national Covid-19 recovery rate has improved to 92.09 per cent, the health ministry data showed.

Recoveries continue to outnumber daily new cases for 19 successive days. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 2,59,47,629, while the case fatality rate has increased to 1.18 per cent, the data stated.

The overall bullish market sentiment pushed the Indian currency up 8 paise to 72.54 against the dollar in early trade on Tuesday. “A rise in crude prices might not help the rupee, but a bullish tone in the capital markets would keep the rupee’s decline in control,” said Kshitij Purohit, Lead International Products & Commodities at CapitalVia Global Research Limited.

Positivity reigned in most markets globally around the opening hours in India. Bourses in Hong Kong and Seoul were trading in the positive territory in mid-session deals, while Shanghai and Tokyo were in the red. Equities on the Wall Street closed higher in the overnight session. International oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 1.20 per cent higher at $70.15 per barrel.