Benchmark indices on Friday hit fresh record highs in a scorching rally driven by IT stocks as the deal wins of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Infosys stoked expectations of a turnaround story for the sector.

The 30-share BSE Sensex zoomed 847.27 points or 1.18 per cent to a new closing high of 72568.45, while the Nifty rose 247.35 points or 1.14 per cent to a lifetime closing high of 21894.55.

During the day, the Sensex and Nifty touched record intra-day peaks of 72720.96 and 21928.25, respectively.

On Thursday, both Infosys and TCS declared their third-quarter numbers. Though their net profits were below estimates, their deal wins in an otherwise seasonally weak period generated optimism among analysts.

Shares of the Bangalore-based company advanced 7.84 per cent to Rs 1,612.20 on the BSE after shooting up 8 per cent to Rs 1,615.80 intra-day.

Likewise, TCS rallied 4.50 per cent to an intra-day peak of Rs 3,905.75 on the BSE after which it settled at Rs 3,881.70, a gain of 3.89 per cent.

``TCS maintained that the demand environment is unchanged. However, we found comfort in its more hopeful stance on a demand recovery as it is seeing pent-up demand for tech spending on new technologies and expects BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) to recover in the coming quarter," Kumar Rakesh of BNP Paribas India said.

"TCS’ expectation of the BFSI vertical’s revenue returning to growth from the next quarter is a sign of cyclical recovery," he said.

"We expect TCS growth to accelerate in 2024-25 on account of ramp-up of large deals, strong deal pipeline, and expected recovery in discretionary spending,’’ a note from Emkay Global Financial Services said.

Within the Sensex pack, the other prominent gainers were Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, Wipro, State Bank of India and Larsen & Toubro which rose up to 4.73 per cent.

Bajaj Finserv, Power Grid, UltraTech Cement and HDFC Bank were among the laggards as they fell up to 1.05 per cent.

The sharp rally came despite US retail inflation rising to 3.4 per cent, which was higher than estimates as it pushed back expectations of an early rate cut from the US Fed.

Meanwhile, the rupee maintained its upward course for the eighth session. It rose above 83 to end at 82.92 to the dollar against the previous close of 83.03.