Mumbai, May 25 : Indian equity benchmarks closed at an all-time high this week as Nifty touched the 23,000 points milestone amid a strong comeback from foreign institutional investors (FII).

Nifty closed at 22,957 after touching a new all-time high of 23,026 intra-day, up 455 points or 2.02 per cent. Sensex ended with 1,404 points or 1.90 per cent gains at 75,410 after hitting a new high of 75,636.

The rally has been led by large-cap stocks. The BSE large-cap index shot up nearly 2 per cent this week.

Adani Energy Solutions, HAL, Adani Total Gas, Adani Power, BEL, Adani Enterprises, and Hindustan Zinc were major gainers. On the other hand, Indigo, Zydus Lifesciences, Bajaj Holdings, Sun Pharma, Nykaa, and Zomato were the major laggards.

Midcap and smallcap stocks also saw decent gains this week.

In midcap, Vodafone Idea, Uno Minda, Solar Industries India, Union Bank of India, ABFRL, Balkrishna Industries, Zee Entertainment, and Samvardhana Motherson Int were major gainers, while Deepak Nitrite, Max Financial, PB Fintech, and Max Healthcare Institute were major losers.

In smallcap, RVNL, Bharat Dynamics, PNC Infra, Cochin Shipyard, Finolex cables, Garden Reach Shipbuilders, and Dredging Corp were major gainers. On the other hand, Parag Milk, Dodla Dairy And Global Health, and IFGL Refractories were major laggards.

Around Rs 1,165 crore worth of stocks were sold by FIIs in the market this week, which is the lowest in the last several weeks and shows that buying by foreign investors is returning.

At the same time, domestic investors invested Rs 6,977 crore in Indian markets this week.

According to market experts, the situation is once again slowly changing in favour of the ruling dispensation.

'The base case scenario appears to be a clear verdict in favour of BJP/NDA. Also, the FII's massive selling has ceased and they have even turned buyers in recent days,' they said.

Going forward, as clarity emerges on the election front, FIIs are likely to buy in India since they cannot afford to miss the post-election results rally.

'The rally may begin even before the election result," they added.

/IANS