Sensex rallied over 350 points to scale a fresh intra-day record in early trade on Tuesday, tracking gains in index-heavyweights Reliance Industries, HDFC twins and ICICI Bank, amid a positive trend in global equities, further decline in Covid-19 numbers, and a 10 paise fall in the rupee to 74.20 against the dollar. NSE Nifty too surged 115.05 points or 0.73 per cent to 15,861.55.

After touching a lifetime intra-day peak of 52,957.13, the 30-share BSE index was trading 374.92 points or 0.71 per cent higher at 52,949.38 in initial deals. Maruti was the top gainer in the Sensex pack, rising over 2 per cent, followed by M&M, L&T, TCS, ICICI Bank, SBI and HDFC twins. Nestle India and Bajaj Finance were the laggards.

In the previous session, Sensex ended 230.01 points or 0.44 per cent higher at 52,574.46, while Nifty advanced 63.15 points or 0.40 per cent to 15,746.50.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,244.71 crore on Monday, as per provisional exchange data.

According to Binod Modi, head of strategy at Reliance Securities, domestic equities look to be good as of now following firm global cues.

US stocks finished sharply higher with Dow and S&P 500 recording 1.4-1.8 per cent gains, as investors focused on strengthening of the US economy and strong corporate earnings, Modi noted. Elsewhere in Asia, bourses in Shanghai, Seoul and Tokyo were trading with gains in mid-session deals, while Hong Kong was in the red.

Further, India’s daily caseload falling below 60,000 and ramp-up in vaccination programmes offer comfort, Modi said, adding that expectations of sharp improvement in high frequency key economic indicators from the current month supported by ease of business curbs in various states should continue to offer support to corporate earnings.

International oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.35 per cent higher at $75.16 per barrel.