Sensex crossed the 60,000-mark for the first time ever as the rally in India’s equity markets continued on Friday morning.

At the end of the trading session, the Sensex was up by 163 points to close at record high of 60,048 and the broader 50-share NSE Nifty rose 30 points to end at an all-time high of 17,853.

On Thursday too, the two benchmark indices had gained more than 1% each. Sensex had ended the day with a gain of 960 points to close at 59,887.

Both the indices began trading on Friday morning with record openings.

Analysts cited by Reuters said that the diminishing concerns about a possible third wave of the coronavirus pandemic and a pick up in the pace of vaccination against the disease have contributed to the gains in the markets.

Investor sentiments also received a boost as global stock markets rallied overnight.

In the United States, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.48% in Thursday’s trading session, while Nasdaq gained 1.04%. The US dollar also retreated from one-month high levels.

In the domestic sectors, stocks of realty and Information Technology firms led the rally. Asian Paints, Eicher Motors, M&M, HCL Technologies and HDFC Bank were the top gainers on Nifty. On the other hand, Tata Steel, JSW Steel, SBI, Divis Labs and Axis Bank were among the biggest losers.

On the BSE also, the sectoral indices like the IT, auto and realty performed well. Over 200 stocks, including that of Wipro and Reliance Industries, hit a 52-week high on the BSE.

“Realty stocks continued to outperform other sectors owing to an increase in property registrations, and cut in stamp duty [in Karnataka] and home loan rates,” Vinod Nair, the head of research at Geojit Financial Services, told Moneycontrol.