Mumbai July 12 (IANS) The BSE Sensex settled at the highest ever closing level on Thursday at 36 548.41 points after touching an intra-day record high of 36 699.53 points.
Tracking broadly positive global cues the wider Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange also rose to end over the 11 000-mark.
Globally the Asian markets traded in the green after reports on Wednesday said China and the US may resume talks to ease the ongoing trade tensions.
At 3.30 p.m. the Nifty50 provisionally closed at 11 023.20 points -- higher by 74.90 points or 0.68 per cent -- from its previous close of 10 948.30 points.
The barometer 30-scrip Sensex which had opened at 36 424.23 points closed higher by 282.48 points or 0.78 per cent at 36 548.41 points (3.30 p.m.). The previous close on Sensex was 36 265.93 points.
As mentioned it touched an all-time high of 36 699.53 points during the intra-day trade and a low of 36 422.08 points. The BSE market breadth however was bearish with 1 472 declines against 1 169 advances.
The top gainers so far on the Sensex were Reliance Industries Wipro HDFC Larsen and Toubro (L&T) and Hindustan Unilever whereas Vedanta Infosys Tata Motors (DVR) Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) and Bajaj Auto were the losers.
On the NSE Reliance Industries BPCL and Bajaj Finance were the highest gainers while UPL Vedanta and Bajaj Auto lost the most.

--IANS rrb/ag/sed