Mumbai, Feb. 7: Buoyed by strong growth projections dished out by the government, the stock markets today rallied to yet another record close.

Led by infotech and auto companies, the sensex settled at a new high of 14643.13, a rise of 164.94 points, or 1.14 per cent, over its last close.

Market observers are confident that foreign institutional investors (FIIs) will continue to invest in domestic equities.

“The corporate results were good, the economy is growing at a good pace and the Union budget is also expected to be pro-reform. All these conditions bode well for the markets notwithstanding fears of over-stretched valuations,” an analyst with a foreign brokerage said.

The 30-share BSE sensex, which lost over 37 points yesterday, staged a strong comeback to touch a record intra-session high of 14663.26 before settling at a new peak of 14643.13. Similarly, the National Stock Exchange’s nifty surged to a new high of 4232.30 points and settled at 4224.25, up 28.35 points.

A major highlight of the day’s trading was two-wheeler Bajaj Auto, whose shares rose 9 per cent to close at Rs 3,080.30 as market participants were optimistic about the company’s performance. Infosys Techologies was a major propeller as it rose almost 4 per cent to Rs 2,358.75.

Real estate company Akruti Nirman today made its debut on the stock exchanges. The share finished at Rs 564, a gain of over 4 per cent from its IPO price of Rs 540.