Indian equity benchmarks raced to new peaks on Friday with the Sensex index taking out the 60,000 mark, shrugging off weakness in global markets. Strength in IT and automobile shares propelled the market to the milestone, though profit booking in the second half of the session pulled both Sensex and Nifty50 about half a percent below their all-time highs registered earlier in the day.

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The Sensex index ended 163.1 points or 0.3 percent higher at 60,048.5 and the broader Nifty50 benchmark gained 15.8 points or 0.1 percent to settle at 17,838.8 -- both record closing highs, though giving up most of their intraday gains. During the session, both indices surged to new all-time highs, as Sensex touched 60,333 and Nifty 17,947.7.

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Both indices clocked a fifth back-to-back weekly gain. Easing concerns about a possible third wave of the pandemic on rapid vaccinations boosted the market sentiment, say analysts.

Among blue-chip stocks, Asian Paints, Eicher Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, HCL Tech, Bharti Airtel, HDFC Bank and Maruti Suzuki, closing between 1.6 percent and 3.7 percent higher, were among the top gainers.

On the other hand, Tata Steel, JSW Steel, SBI, Divi's Labs, Shree Cement and Axis Bank -- falling between 1.9 percent and 3.9 percent -- were the worst hit among the 30 laggards in the 50-strong Nfity50 universe.

"India is seizing a sweet spot among the global equity markets with the increase in domestic investors. However, profit booking was noticeable in mid-and small-cap stocks, which can continue in the short term," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services.

Broader markets underperformed the headline indices, with the midcap index falling 0.8 percent and the smallcap barometer finishing the day 0.1 percent higher.

Metal stocks took a beating amid uncertainty surrounding the financially-troubled property developer China Evergrande, which faces a deadline to make a key interest payment. NSE's sectoral index finished 2.1 percent lower, dragged by Tata Steel, JSW Steel and Vedanta.

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Private sector banking stocks rose though the Nifty Bank index gave up most of its day's gain. The banking gauge ended 0.2 percent higher, having risen as much as 0.9 percent during the session.

Real estate stocks continued to remain in high demand, riding on increasing property registrations and low home loan rates. The Nifty Realty index rose 1.5 percent.

Reliance Industries shares failed to remain in positive territory, slipping from an all-time high of Rs 2,504.7, which took the conglomerate closer to the Rs 17 lakh crore mark. The stock settled down 0.3 percent at Rs 2483 apiece on BSE.

In the mid- and small-cap segments, Oberoi Realty, Vodafone Idea, Tata Chemicals, Chambal Fertilizers and KEI Industries were among the top gainers. Dr Lal, Alembic Pharma, Apollo Tyres, Bajaj Electricals and Sterling & Wilson Solar were among the top losers.

Meanwhile, S&P 500 E-Mini futures traded half a percent lower, suggesting a negative start ahead on Wall Street.

European markets started the day on a weak note, with the region-wide STOXX 600 index slipping 0.8 percent to halt a three-day winning run. Earlier, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was little changed.