Dalal Street sees another high as Nifty closes above 19,700 for the first time

• From the Sensex pack, SBI, RIL, Wipro and HDFC Bank were the key gainers.
• Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel and JSW Steel were among the laggards.
• FPIs have remained net buyers in Indian stock markets for the fifth straight month.

India's benchmark indices, the Sensex and Nifty, closed at new lifetime high levels on Monday on foreign fund inflows and buying in index majors HDFC Bank and Reliance Industries. The 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 529.03 points or 0.80% to settle at its new all-time closing high of 66,589.93. During the day, it climbed 595.31 points or 0.90% to hit its lifetime intra-day peak of 66,656.20.

The NSE Nifty went up by 146.95 points or 0.75% to end at a new record high of 19,711.45. During the day, it rallied 167.35 points or 0.85% to its record intra-day high of 19,731.85.

From the Sensex pack, State Bank of India, Wipro, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank and IndusInd Bank were the major gainers.

HDFC Bank climbed 2% after the company reported a 29.13% jump in consolidated net profit for the June quarter at Rs 12,370.38 crore.

Tata Motors, Bharti Airtel, Titan and JSW Steel were among the laggards.

"Despite the mixed performance observed in the Asian market due to China's underwhelming GDP data, the Indian market exhibited resilience, in anticipation of a bumper Q1 result," Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services said.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were buyers on Friday as they bought equities worth Rs 2,636.43 crore, according to exchange data. According to data from the National Securities Depository (NSDL), FPIs have remained net buyers in Indian stock markets for the fifth straight month in July.

"In July, FPIs have invested Rs 30,660 crore in India inclusive of bulk deals and investment through primary market. This reflects the increasing FPI confidence in the Indian economy and markets," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

In Asian markets, Seoul and Shanghai ended lower.

Equity markets in Europe were trading mostly in negative territory. The US markets ended on a mixed note on Friday.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude fell 1.62% to USD 78.58 a barrel.

(Text input from PTI)