Sensex hits record high; rupee at 20-month high

MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's benchmark BSE Sensex rose as much as 0.4 percent to hit a record high on Wednesday, surpassing its previous milestone hit in March 2015, while the rupee hit a 20-month against the dollar.

The market rally comes after a string of solid domestic quarterly results, while hopes for additional foreign inflows to India have increased on renewed optimism about the U.S. economy and after the first round of an election in France went to the market's preferred candidate.

The Sensex rose to a high of 30,071.77 points, surpassing a record last hit in March 2015. The broader NSE Nifty rose as much as 0.4 percent to a record high of 9,343.15 points, its second consecutive all-time milestone.

The rupee strengthened to as much as 63.93 per dollar, its highest since August 2015, compared to its close of 64.2650 on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Rafael Nam; Editing by Swati Bhat)