Mumbai, Jul 7 (IANS): The key Indian equity indices settled at their record closing highs after a surge in the market during the final hour of trade on Wednesday.

Healthy buying was witnessed in metal and realty stocks.

The BSE Sensex closed at 53,054.76, higher by 193.58 points or 0.37 per cent from its previous close of 52,861.18.

It had opened at 52,919.71 and touched an intra-day high of 53,105.41 points and a low of 52,751.76 points.

The Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange also settled at a record closing high of 15,879.65, higher by 61.40 points or 0.39 per cent from its previous close.

Shrikant Chouhan, Executive Vice President, Equity Technical Research at Kotak Securities said: "Among sectors, strong buying was seen in the metal and reality stocks, whereas some intraday profit booking was witnessed in energy and selective auto stocks."

"We are of the view that the larger market structure is still positive and likely to continue in the near future if the market succeeds to trade above 15,850/52,900," he said.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Tata Steel, Bajaj Finance and IndusInd Bank, while the major losers were Titan Company, Maruti Suzuki and Reliance Industries.