The record run of benchmark indices continued on Wednesday as the Nifty index closed above 26,000 for the first time led by energy, metal, and media stocks.

Nifty 50 surged by 0.35%, reaching a fresh record high of 26,032 points in trade before closing with a gain of 0.25% at 26,004 points. The Sensex reached a new all-time high of 85,247 points, rising by 0.34%.

At close, the Sensex was up 255.83 points, or 0.30%, at 85,169.87, and the Nifty was up 63.75 points, or 0.25%, at 26,004.15.

On Nifty, Power Grid Corp, NTPC, Axis Bank, Grasim Industries, and Bajaj Finserv were among the top gainers.

LTIMindtree, Tech Mahindra, Tata Consumer, Tata Motors, and Titan Company were on the losing side.

On the BSE, as many as 267 stocks, including Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M), NTPC, Power Grid, Bajaj Finserv, Hindalco, Trent, and TVS Motor Company, hit their fresh one-year highs in intraday trade.

Among the stocks that rose to their 52-week highs were Bosch, CG Power and Industrial Solutions, Ipca Labs, Tata Communications, United Breweries, Blue Star, Ceat, Craftsman Automation, Eclerx Services, Lloyds Metals and Energy and Metropolis Healthcare.

The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices closed the day lower by 0.53 per cent and 0.35%, respectively.

The overall market capitalisation of the firms listed on the BSE dropped to nearly Rs 475 lakh crore from nearly Rs 476 lakh crore in the previous session.

On the sectoral front, power, metal, media, and realty indices were up 0.5-3%, while FMCG, PSU Bank and IT were down 0.5-1%.

Media stocks remained top performers with Saregama India soaring by 16.2% and Zee Entertainment rising by 5.7%, while Tips Industries and Dish TV India recorded gains exceeding 2% each.

Shares of Reliance Power surged by 5% as a block deal involving shares worth Rs 357 crore, which took place on the exchanges on Wednesday.

EaseMyTrip cracked 16% after a block deal involving shares worth Rs 176.5 crore of EaseMyTrip (Easy Trip Planners Ltd) took place on the exchanges.

Shares of Dabur slipped over 4% after Swiss brokerage UBS downgraded the FMCG major to ‘hold’ from ‘buy’ earlier.

Experts believe that the domestic market may face short-term challenges owing to a decline in FII inflows and a shift of funds to other emerging markets due to their cheap valuation.