Amid positive global cues and falling Covid numbers, Sensex jumped over 250 points in early trade on Friday to touch a record intra-day high of 52,578.07, tracking gains in Reliance Industries, Infosys and HDFC Bank, while Nifty advanced 72 points or 0.46 per cent to 15,809.75.

The rupee too surged 14 paise to 72.92 against the dollar in early trade.

The 30-share BSE index was later trading 241.05 points or 0.46 per cent higher at 52,541.52 in initial deals. PowerGrid was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising around 2 per cent, followed by Reliance Industries, ONGC, HCL Tech, Sun Pharma, Infosys and HDFC twins, while Bajaj Finserv, HUL, Bajaj Finance, Titan and Tech Mahindra lagged.

In the previous session, Sensex finished 358.83 points or 0.69 per cent higher at 52,300.47, and Nifty climbed 102.40 points or 0.65 per cent to end at 15,737.75.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers, purchasing shares worth Rs 1,329.70 crore on Thursday, as per provisional exchange data.

Improving business environment from the beginning of June, led by phased withdrawal of business curbs by the states has lifted sentiments among investors, said Binod Modi, head of strategy at Reliance Securities. He was referring to the morning data released by the Union health ministry, which showed 3,403 new deaths and 91,702 new cases of Covid in the past 24 hours.

High frequency key economic indicators are likely to see remarkable improvement from current month onwards, which should sustain premium valuations of the market, he noted.

Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo were in trading on a positive note in mid-session deals, while Shanghai was in the red. US equities finished with gains in the overnight session. International oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.55 per cent lower at USD 72.12 per barrel.