The Indian equity benchmarks rose to new highs on Wednesday as sustained buying of Indian equities by foreign institutional investors (FIIs) and news of progress in Covid-19 vaccine development cheered investors' sentiment.

The Sensex rose as much as 555 points to hit a record high of 46,164.10 and Nifty 50 index climbed above 13,500 for the first time.

HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, Infosys, Kotak Mahindra Bank and Asian Paints were the top movers in today's session.The Sensex closed 495 points higher at an all-time high of 46,103 and Nifty 50 index advanced 136 points to settle at record high of 13,529.The markets have been hitting record highs on news of progress in Covid-19 vaccine development amid sustained buying of Indian shares by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs), analysts said.

FIIs bought shares worth Rs 2,909.60 crore on Tuesday.Eight of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended higher led by the Nifty Media index's nearly 4 per cent gain.

Banking, financial services, FMCG, IT and realty indices also rose over a per cent each.On the other hand, PSU banking and metal stocks witnessed selling on account of profit booking.Mid- and small-cap shares also witnessed buying interest as Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indexes rose over half a per cent.UPL was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose 4.6 per cent to close at Rs 494.

Asian Paints, Indian Oil, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC Bank, Infosys, Axis Bank, Reliance Industries, Bharat Petroleum, IndusInd Bank, Bajaj Finance and Larsen - Toubro rose between 1-3.65 per cent each.On the flipside, Hindalco, Shree Cements, UltraTech Cement, Wipro, Tata Steel, Maruti Suzuki, Grasim Industries and State Bank of India were among the losers.The overall market breadth was positive as 1,768 shares ended higher while 1,202 closed lower on the BSE.