Mumbai, Aug 1 (IANS): Indian frontline indices closed at a record high on Thursday due to positive sentiment in the market.

At closing, Sensex ended at 81,867, up 126 points or 0.15 per cent and Nifty was up 59 points or 0.24 per cent at 25,010. It was the first time in the Indian stock market history that the Nifty closed above 25,000.

In morning trade, both main indices, Sensex and Nifty, made a new lifetime high of 82,129 and 25,078 respectively.

However, selling was seen in the smallcap and midcap stocks. The Nifty Midcap 100 index closed at 58,490, down 500 points or 0.85 per cent, and the Nifty smallcap 100 index closed at 18,949, down 187 points or 0.98 per cent.

In the Sensex pack, Power Grid, NTPC, HDFC Bank, Nestle, Maruti Suzuki, Reliance, Bharti Airtel, JSW Steel and UltraTech Cement were the top gainers. M&M, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finserv, SBI, L&T and Tata Motors were the top losers.

Mandar Bhojane, Equity Research Analyst at Choice Broking said, "Nifty has hit the 25,000 mark for the first time, reaching a high of 25,078.30 before experiencing sharp selling at these all-time high levels. The 24,950 level is expected to act as immediate support."

"Every dip presents a buying opportunity, especially near the 24,800 and 24,600 levels. The market is anticipated to remain strongly bullish above 24,400 levels," he added.

The India VIX, reflecting market volatility, dipped by 2.42 per cent to close at 12.9300.