New Delhi, Aug 18 (PTI) The market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms reached an all-time high of over Rs 280.52 lakh crore on Thursday, helped by a continuous rally in equities.

The 30-share BSE Sensex ended 37.87 points or 0.06 per cent higher at 60,298. This is the benchmark's fifth straight session of gains.

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Tracking rally in equities, the market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms jumped to Rs 2,80,52,760.91 crore on Thursday.

Earlier on January 17, the market capitalisation (mcap) of BSE-listed firms had reached a lifetime high of Rs 2,80,02,437.71 crore.

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"Recent gains in Indian indices have been helped by a combination of factors, including encouraging macro data, fall in commodity prices, slowing inflation that may lead to central banks globally softening their monetary policy stance earlier than expected etc. Return of buying by FPIs has also helped," said Dhiraj Relli, MD & CEO, HDFC Securities on BSE market cap reaching at a new all-time high.

Persistent foreign fund inflows have further bolstered investor sentiment of late.

"We're in the fifth successive week of advance and rotational buying across sectors helping the index maintain the prevailing trend," Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking Ltd, said.

Kotak Mahindra Bank was the biggest gainer in the Sensex pack, climbing 3.45 per cent, followed by Larsen & Toubro, Bharti Airtel, IndusInd Bank, UltraTech Cement, Power Grid, State Bank of India and ITC.

On the other hand, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Wipro, Infosys, Mahindra & Mahindra, Axis Bank and Nestle were among the laggards.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge gained 0.42 per cent and the smallcap index climbed 0.34 per cent.

Sectorally, BSE realty jumped 1.76 per cent, followed by utilities (1.09 per cent), capital goods (0.91 per cent), industrials (0.90 per cent), bankex (0.68 per cent) and telecom (0.57 per cent).

Energy, healthcare, IT, auto, metal, teck and oil & gas were the laggards.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers in the Indian capital market as they bought shares worth Rs 2,347.22 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)