The Nifty 50 index surged to a fresh record high on Wednesday, on the back of sustained overseas inflows amid hints of dovish central bank policy.

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The 50-share NSE index rose 47.8 points to a record high of 11,761, surpassing its previous high of 11,760.20, hit in August 2018.

So far in 2019, the NSE index has advanced 880 points to reach the new high, led by oil-to-telecoms conglomerate Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), which contributed 237.654 points, or 26 percent, to the Nifty 50 gains.

After RIL, HDFC Bank and Infosys were among the top contributors to the index, accounting for around 100 points each. Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, Tata Consultancy Services, Yes Bank, ITC, SBI and Kotak Bank added between 31 to 65 points.

Financial services companies were among the major players in the Nifty's record run, contributing about 47 percent of gains. With TCS and Infosys, IT's share in the Nifty rally was nearly 18 percent.

On the flip side, the auto sector stocks were among the major laggards, with Mahindra and Mahindra being the top drag with 30 points. Maruti Suzuki India, Hero MotoCorp and Eicher Motors also pulled the index down by about 10 to 17 points.

According to analysts, investors are likely to become cautious ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, scheduled to be held in April and May. "The bull market is still intact, but it is time to be a bit cautious ahead of elections," said Ramesh Damani, member, BSE.

Atul Suri, CEO-PMS at Marathon Trends, said, "The market rally has not been broad-based, and the broader market has room to catch up because they have underperformed benchmark indices. The market participants are waiting for the rally to spread beyond Nifty and Sensex."

Suri added that financials will continue to lead the market rally. "Apart from financials, we are seeing good traction in select capital goods and pharma stock."

First Published:Apr 3, 2019 12:59 PM IST