Sensex Tops 74,000 For First Time; Nifty Ends Above 22,400

Indian shares hit fresh record highs on Wednesday, with private sector banking stocks and financials leading the surge.

The 30-share BSE Sensex hit a record high of 74,151 before ending the session up 408.86 points, or 0.55 percent, at 74,085.99.

The broader NSE Nifty index claimed 22,497 before closing up 117.75 points, or 0.53 percent, at 22,474.05, helped by strong buying in the last hour of trade.

Axis Bank, SBI Life, Bharti Airtel, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Bajaj Auto jumped 2-3 percent in the Nifty pack, while UltraTech Cement, NTPC and Adani Enterprises all fell around 2 percent.

PSU stocks such as BPCL and ONGC ended down over 1 percent each after recent strong gains.

Global cues were mixed, the dollar slipped, and U.S. Treasury yields were slightly higher ahead of congressional testimony by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

Gold held near record highs on rising bets for a June U.S. interest rate cut.

Oil prices traded about 1 percent higher in European trade after Saudi Arabia raised oil prices for Asia and industry data showed a smaller than expected crude build in the United States.

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