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India's equity benchmarks settled close to record-high levels on Thursday, led by Reliance as a solid quarterly earnings scorecard left investors optimistic about prospects for a broader rebound in domestic markets.

The Nifty 50 and the BSE Sensex gained 0.5% each to 26,192.15 and 85,632.68, respectively. They are less than 0.5% away from all-time highs reached in September 2024.

"The consolidation over the last 14 months since record highs is coming to an end, as sentiment is boosted by a combination of recovering corporate profitability, reasonable valuations and improving flows," said Rahul Singh, chief investment officer of equities at Tata Asset Management.

The market rally was also sparked by speculation of an imminent India–U.S. trade deal, though no official announcement had emerged by market close, said two analysts.

On the day, ten of the 16 major sectors advanced, while broader small-cap and mid-cap indexes were flat.

The third highest weighted stock on the benchmark, Reliance Industries gained 2% to close at its highest level since July 2024.

UBS reiterated its "buy" call on the oil-to-telecom conglomerate, saying that its strength in refining is likely to drive improvement in the oil-to-chemicals business.

Motilal Oswal also reiterated "buy" and raised price target, citing an improvement in Reliance's new energy business.

Two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp gained 2.1% after Macquarie upgraded it to "outperform" from "neutral", citing a boost to earnings from goods and services tax (GST) cuts and new product launches.

Macquarie's upgrade followed a similar action by J.P.Morgan on Wednesday, as Hero MotoCorp jumped 8.9% in five sessions since reporting a profit beat in the September quarter.

Other Asian markets rose 1.1%, tracking an overnight rally on Wall Street, as investors cheered Nvidia's upbeat earnings.

Investors await the release of the U.S. September jobs report, due later in the day, for clues on the Federal Reserve's rate-cut trajectory. [MKTS/GLOB]