Sensex scaled another new high with foreign institutional investors pumping in more funds in last two days into the market. The foreign institutional investors bought shares worth a net Rs 1,029 crore on Thursday against Rs 1,304 crore on Wednesday, as per provisional data from the stock exchanges. FIIs have made a net investment of ` 17,820 crore in March.

The benchmark index Sensex gained 119 points to 22,214.

Sensex opened on bullish note at 22,116 against the previous close 22,095. It hit a high of 22308 and low of 22094 before closing at 22,214 with a gain of 119 point. The total turnover on BSE was lower at Rs 2,562 crore against Rs 4,211 crore on Wednesday. The near-month March contract in the futures and option segment expired on Thursday.

In NSE, Nifty gained 40 points to 6,642.

Reliance Industries gained one per cent to Rs 902 after the company announced that the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar has selected it for exploring two offshore blocks in Myanmar. PSU banks stocks rose across the board on value buying. UltraTech Cement hit 52-week high at Rs 2072, but it gave up some of the gains to close at Rs 2,056 on profit booking.

Shares of most public sector banks gained after Goldman Sachs upgraded the prospects of these banks with emerging macroeconomic and political clarity.

State Bank of India gained four per cent to Rs 1,840. A few brokerage houses also revised its price target to Rs 2,080 from Rs 1,440 a share, citing the bank will benefit from economic recovery and lower slippages.

Major gainers were HDIL (8%), JP Infratech (6%), Nalco (5%), IDFC (5%), IOB (5%) and Motherson Sumi (5%).

Prominent losers include Divis Lab (-3%), MRF (-3%), Zee Entert (-3%), JSW Energy (3%), Ranbaxy Lab (-2%), Sobha Dev (-2%), Biocon (-2%) and Suzlon Energy (-2%).

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