Nifty hits record high above 9,000; RIL jumps

MUMBAI (Reuters) - The Nifty rose to a record high on Tuesday, led by gains in Reliance Industries (RELI.NS) after CLSA said the conglomerate could report a record profit for the fourth quarter.

The 50-share index rose as much as 0.58 pct to 9,008.40, surpassing its previous record of 8,996.60 hit on Jan. 30.

Hopes India's weightage in MSCI indexes would increase due to the government's proposal to merge foreign direct investment and foreign portfolio investment limits, also underpinned sentiment.

The Sensex ended 0.46 percent higher, still 0.85 percent away from its all-time high of 29,844.16 hit on Jan. 30.

The Nifty ended 0.44 percent higher after breaching the psychologically important 9,000 level for the first time.

Reliance Industries gained 4.2 percent, marking its biggest daily gain since March 7, 2014.

Exporters also rose, led by a 1.9 percent gain in Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (SUN.NS) after it agreed to buy GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK.L) opiates business in Australia to strengthen its pain management portfolio.

(Reporting by Abhishek Vishnoi; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)