Mumbai, Sep 26 (IANS): Indian equity markets are witnessing a robust performance, with the Sensex up by 666 points and the Nifty surpassing the 26,000 mark, closing at 85,836 and 26,216, respectively.

Intraday, Sensex and Nifty hit new all-time highs of 85,930 and 26,250, respectively.

In the Sexsex pack, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Bajaj Finserv, M&M, Tata Steel, JSW Steel, UltraTech Cement, Bajaj Finance, Nestle, Sun Pharma, HUL, SBI, Wipro, Asian Paints, ITC, and IndusInd Bank were the top gainers. Only L&T and NTPC closed in the red.

The Nifty Smallcap 100 index closed 96 points or 0.50 per cent lower at 19,261 and the Nifty Midcap 100 index closed marginally higher by 4 points at 60,469.

Among the sectoral indices, Auto, IT, PSU Bank, fin service, pharma, FMCG, metal and commodity were major gainers. Only the consumer durable index closed in the red.

Rupak De, Senior Technical Analyst, LKP Securities said: "The Nifty has broken out of consolidation on the daily timeframe, indicating increasing bullish momentum. The sentiment is expected to stay positive as the index closed above a key moving average. A drop below 26,000 might disrupt the current bullish trend, but until then, the strength is likely to persist in the index."

Other market experts maintained that China's recent economic stimulus announcement has greatly enhanced investor confidence, resulting in significant positive momentum in global markets, especially within Asian indices. Moreover, the market is maintaining an optimistic outlook in response to stable US economic data, they said. Concurrently, the Indian market is reaching new highs, anticipating a strong recovery in corporate earnings for the H2FY25, fuelled by expected government expenditure, they added.

The foreign institutional investors (FIIs) extended their selling as they sold equities worth Rs 973 crore on September 25, while domestic institutional investors extended their buying as they further bought equities worth Rs 1,778 crore on the same day.