Markets continued with its positive weekly streaks to scale record highs on Wednesday after ending flat in the previous session on the back of gains in automaker Mahindra and Mahindra and optimism over the roll-out of Covid-19 vaccines. Also Read: LPG Price Hike: Now, Shell Rs 50 More After Second Price Hike In A Fortnight; Check Rate In Major Cities

The S&P BSE Sensex climbed 300 points, or 0.6 per cent to touch 46,570 levels. The index hit an intra-day high of 46,592. While the broader Nifty50 breached the 13,650-mark. Mahindra & Mahindra witnessed a 3% rise and remained the top gainers after it announced hike prices of its entire range of passenger and commercial vehicles from next month. This has been necessitated due to the increase in commodity prices and various other input costs," a company statement said. "Details of the price increase across different models will be communicated in due course," according to news agency IANS.

Among other top gainers were ONGC (up 2%), Asian Paints, Bajaj Finance, and Tata Steel rose 1%.

Markets posted its six straight weekly gains due to record inflows from foreign institutional investors, authorisation of Covid-19 vaccine, and signs of a nascent economic recovery in the country. Ratings agency Standard and Poor’s on Tuesday projected India’s real gross domestic product for the current fiscal year to shrink 7.7%, compared with the 9% contraction it expected earlier.

Broader Asian markets were also higher, with MSCI’s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside of Japan rising 0.6%. Rupee surges 15 paise to 73.48 against US dollar in early trade.

Meanwhile Gold and silver prices edged higher in India on Wednesday following an overnight rally in global markets. On MCX, February gold futures gained 0.26% to ₹49,571 while silver futures rose 0.6% to ₹65,230 per kg. In the previous session, gold had jumped ₹530 or 1.1% per 10 gram while silver had surged 2%.