Mumbai, Sep 24 : India's benchmark equity index S&P BSE Sensex crossed the 60,000-mark milestone on Friday. It took 246 days to accumulate the last 10,000 points. The 30-scrip sensitive index crossed the milestone just after the pre-open session on the back of a rally driven by large caps with many index heavyweights touching their respective highs. The Sensex opened at 60,158.76 points from its previous close of 59,885.36 points. It took only 42 days to gain the last 5,000 points. At 12.10 p.m. the Sensex traded at 60,127.50 points, higher by 242.14 points or 0.40 per cent from its previous close. The NSE Nifty50 traded above the 17,900 points-mark during the pre-noon session. It opened at 17,897.45 points from its previous close of 17,822.95. The Nifty touched a record intraday high of 17,927.20 points. Sector-wise, Realty, IT, Media and Telecom indices were the best performers since May 18, 2021. Auto, pharma and metal indices have risen the least. Amongst BSE 200 stocks, JSW Energy, Mindtree, IRCTC and Mphasis have risen more than 100 per cent over this period. Furthermore, LTI, LTTS, Godrej Properties and Zee Ent are other large gainers. The market cap of all listed companies clubbed together crossed Rs 250 lakh crore. By noon, NSE Nifty50 edged higher. It rose to 17,883.70 points, higher by 60.75 points or 0.34 per cent from its previous close. "The rally in domestic market is driven by positive global cues, strong inflows by FIIs or DIIs, good corporate earnings, falling Covid-19 cases, upbeat corporate commentaries and low cost of capital. Amid the buoyant sentiment and increased activity, Nifty valuations has reached elevated levels and demand consistent delivery on earnings expectations,"said Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services. "Given rich valuations, one cannot ignore intermittent volatility -- however, we expect the positive momentum to continue on the back of improving economic activity and recovery in corporate earnings." According to Ashish Biswas, Head of Technical Research, CapitalVia Global Research: "The market is growing due to excess liquidity and a low-interest rate regime. Investors also felt relieved by the Federal Reserve's stance on withdrawing stimulus and raising interest rates." "FIIs and DIIs continue to pour in more investment in the market which has led to further highs. The fear of the third wave has also decreased and investors are not worried about the adverse impacts on the economy as more and more people get vaccinated." In addition, Dhiraj Relli, MD & CEO, HDFC Securities said: "This shows the impact of return of FPIs and local investors continuing to invest despite headwinds that cropped up time and again." "The absence of a 10 per cent correction in the indices over the last 18 months shows the maturity of the local investors, but also throws up the possibility of that happening over the next few weeks or months." /IANS