A broad-based buying in Indian equity markets led to a strong recovery on July 26, following five consecutive days of declines. Benchmark Nifty 50 hit new all-time high in the last minute of trading session at 24,861. Looking ahead, analysts believe that if the Nifty can maintain a level above 24,000, it is likely to advance further.

Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty surged up to 1.7 percent, reaching 81,332 and 24,834, respectively, on July 26. During the day, the Sensex was 160 points away from a new all-time high.

The market breadth favored advances, with approximately 2,324 shares rising, 1,113 shares declining, and 75 shares remaining unchanged.

All sectors swam in green on July 26. Nifty Metal index was the top performer of the day, rising over 3 percent supported by gains in Coal India, JSW Steel, Tata Steel, Vedanta, and Hindalco. Nifty Auto, Nifty Pharma, and Nifty IT also fared well, jumping over 2 percent each.

At close, the Sensex was up 1,292.92 points or 1.62 percent at 81,332.72, and the Nifty was up 428.75 points or 1.76 percent at 24,834.85. Gainers outnumbered laggards as around two stocks rose for each one that fell. About 2,346 shares rose, 1,101 fell while 65 were unchanged.

Top Nifty gainers were Shriram Finance, Cipla, Dr Reddy's Laboratories, Infosys, Bharti Airtel and Apollo Hospitals, while ONGC and Tata Consumer Products were the only major losers.

On the sectoral front, all sectors glimmered in the green, with information technology, automobiles, infra, metals and pharma recorded the sharpest gains of 2-3 percent.

Other sectors including banks - private and PSUs, FMCG, realty, and energy also surged 1-1.5 percent.

Strong buying interest was also seen across the broader market as the S&P BSE Smallcap index rose 1 percent while the S&P BSE Midcap jumped 2 percent.

A sea of stocks touched their 52-week high on the BSE including Alembic Pharma, Ashok Leyland, Biocon, Divi's Labs, Eicher Motors, Grasim, Fortis Healthcare, Infosys, Lupin among others.