New Delhi, Jun 20 (PTI) The market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms hit a fresh all-time high of Rs 293.51 lakh crore on Tuesday as the benchmark Sensex rebounded to settle in the positive territory.

The 30-share BSE benchmark advanced 159.40 points or 0.25 per cent to settle at 63,327.70. Fag-end buying helped the benchmark climb 271.89 points or 0.43 per cent to hit the day's high at 63,440.19.

Also Read | Karnataka: BJP Leaders Including Basavaraj Bommai Detained During Protest Against Congress on ‘FCI Rice-issue’ (Watch Video).

The Sensex is just 255.37 points away from its intra-day record peak of 63,583.07 hit on December 1 last year.

The recovery in equities helped the market capitalisation (mcap) of BSE-listed firms reach an all-time high of Rs 2,93,51,462.45 crore at the end of the trade.

Also Read | Free Rice: Karnataka Congress Stages Protest Against Centre at Freedom Park, BJP Hits Back.

The market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms reached a record of Rs 292.78 lakh crore on Friday last week.

"While most of the Asian markets ended laggards, last-hour buying in IT, metal, banking and power stocks helped Sensex regain the 63,000 level in a trading session marked with sharp intra-day volatility.

"It will not be a smooth one-way rally, with intermittent hiccups such as interest rate uncertainty, global economic slowdown and inflation woes likely to play spoilsport in the near to medium term," said Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd.

From the Sensex pack, Tata Motors, HCL Technologies, Power Grid, Tech Mahindra, NTPC, Axis Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Larsen & Toubro, Wipro, Nestle, Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys were among the major gainers.

Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, Mahindra & Mahindra, UltraTech Cement, IndusInd Bank and State Bank of India were the major laggards.

"After wobbling in the morning session, bulls regrouped at lower levels as the benchmark indices raced higher to end the session in green. Markets were in total control despite cautious mood at Dalal Street, with IT and metal stocks ending as star performers," Prashanth Tapse, Senior VP (Research), Mehta Equities Ltd, said.

In the broader market, the BSE midcap gauge climbed 0.47 per cent and smallcap index advanced 0.40 per cent.

Among the indices, power gained 1.02 per cent, utilities jumped 0.94 per cent, auto (0.85 per cent), IT (0.78 per cent), teck (0.67 per cent) and metal (0.63 per cent).

Services, oil & gas, energy and industrials were the laggards.

(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)