Mumbai, Dec 27 (IANS): With a massive rally of 701 points, Sensex soared to new highs by crossing the 72,000 points mark for the first time on Wednesday.

At close on Wednesday, Sensex was up almost 1 per cent, or 701 points, at 72,038.43, while Nifty hit record high of 21,654.75, registering an increase of 1 per sent or 213 points.

Ultratech Cement was up 4 per cent, while Hindalco was also up 4 per cent.

Metal stocks were strong in trade on Wednesday and apart from Hindalco, JSW Steel was up 3 per cent. Tata Steel was also up more than 1 per cent, while Tata Motors was up 3 per cent.

Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said the upbeat domestic market continued reaching new record highs and easily recovered last week's losses. This upward trend was predominantly supported by the Santa Claus rally in anticipation of early rate cuts by the US Fed and cooling global inflation.

Additionally, the news of major shipping companies resuming operations on the Red Sea despite ongoing tensions further bolstered domestic sentiments, he said.

Rahul Sharma, Head of Technical & Derivative Research at JM Financial Services, said, "After a brief midweek panic last week, bulls are back with a bang albeit with some caution. India VIX has touched a new high on multi-month time frame indicating possibility of some volatility as we approach the monthly expiry. FII's have been buyers in the last couple of sessions in Index options while they continue to stay long in the index futures segment.”