The Indian equity benchmarks closed at record highs for third day in a row led by gains in index heavyweights Reliance Industries, ITC, HDFC Bank, Bharti Airtel and Tata Steel.

The Sensex rose as much as 347.7 points to hit an all-time high of 54,717.24 and Nifty 50 index touched record high of 16,349.

For most part of the day, benchmarks traded in a narrow band but moved higher in afternoon trading led by strong moves in ITC and Reliance Industries while most of the sectors traded on a subdued note.The Sensex advanced 123 points to close at record high of 54,492.84 and Nifty 50 index rose 36 points to end at an all-time high of 16,294.60.Eight of 11 sector gauges compiled by the National Stock Exchange ended lower led by the Nifty PSU Bank index's over 2 per cent fall as investors booked profits in State Bank of India after it surged to record high after posting highest ever quarterly profit.

Realty, Pharma, Media, Bank, Financial Services and Auto indices also fell up to 1 per cent.On the other hand, FMCG, metal and information technology indices ended higher.Mid- and small-cap shares underperformed larger peers as Nifty Midcap 100 index ended on a flat note while Nifty Smallcap 100 index dropped 0.5 per cent.Bharti Airtel was top Nifty gainer, the stock rose nearly 4 per cent to close at Rs 574.

Eicher Motors, ITC, Tech Mahindra, JSW Steel, Tata Steel, Tata Consumer Products and Reliance Industries also rose between 1-2 per cent.On the flipside, State Bank of India, IndusInd Bank, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv, NTPC, UPL, Grasim Industries and UltraTech Cement were among the losers.The overall market breadth was negative as 2,031 shares ended lower while 1,197 closed higher on the BSE.