Mumbai, Aug 20 (PTI) Continuing its rally, the benchmark BSE Sensex rose over 250 points to hit a fresh record high in early trade, and NSE Nifty went past the 11,500-mark for the first time today on widespread gains in capital goods, metal, realty and banking scrips amid firm Asian cues.

The Sensex advanced by 263.06 points, or 0.69 per cent, to hit a new high of 38,210.94, breaking its previous record of 38,076.23 reached on August 9.

The gauge had gained 284.32 points in the previous session on Friday.

NSE Nifty too breached the 11,500 mark, by surging 46.50 points, or 0.40 per cent, to 11,517.25, surging past its previous (intra-day) high of 11,495.20 on August 9.

Besides, fresh inflows by foreign funds and persistent buying by domestic institutional investors (DIIs) and rupee recovery also boosted investor sentiment here, brokers said.

The market rally was powered by strong gains in capital gods, metal, realty, infrastructure, PSU, oil and gas, healthcare, auto and banking stocks, rising up to 2.78 per cent.

Major gainers that helped key indices scale new highs include L&T, ONGC, Yes Bank, Coal India, Tata Motors, Tata Steel, Wipro, Vedanta, SBI, RIL, HUL, HDFC Ltd, Hero MotoCorp and HDFC Bank, rising up to 4.17 per cent.

Meanwhile, Infosys, Bharti Airtel, ITC and TCS were trading in the red, falling up to 2 per cent.

Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net of Rs 151.89 crore, while foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net of Rs 147.31 crore on Friday, provisional data showed.

Traders said positive cues from other Asian markets, tracking gains on the Wall Street fuelled by hopes for an easing of the trade row between the China and the US, influenced sentiments here.

Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.38 per cent, while Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.15 per cent in their early deals. Japan's Nikkei, however, fell 0.33 per cent.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.43 per cent higher on Friday's trade.

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