Sensex rises 800 points, Nifty above 10K: What's driving the rally today

Sensex and Nifty took cues from the Asian markets today which rallied after US Federal Reserve said it would start purchasing corporate bonds in the secondary market, one of several emergency facilities launched in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.  The move is aimed to keep lending markets running smoothly. While Sensex gained 794 points to 34,022, Nifty rose 233 points to 10,046.

On Monday, Sensex ended 552 points lower at 33,228 and Nifty closed 159 points lower at 9,813.

After the announcement yesterday, US markets reversed losses and ended with modest gains. The S&P 500 rose 0.8% to 3,066.59. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.6%, to finish at 25,763.16 after earlier falling as much as 762 points. The Nasdaq composite added 1.4% to 9,726.02.

A Bloomberg News report that the Trump administration was preparing a nearly $1 trillion infrastructure proposal as part of its push to spur the world's largest economy back to life also helped US markets close in the green.

The positive announcement turned Asian markets upbeat today with Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 gaining 3.2% to 22,212.62. South Korea's Kospi rose 4.5% to 2,123.35, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 jumped 3.7% to 5,932.40. Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 2.6% to 24,403.92. The Shanghai Composite edged up 0.9% to 2,916.07.

Back home, of 30 Sensex stocks, 26 were trading in green. HDFC twins, Infosys, Hero MotoCorp, ICICI Bank, Tata Steel and HCL Tech were the top Sensex gainers rising up to 4%. Axis Bank, Tech Mahindra, ITC and Bharti Airtel were the top Sensex losers falling up to 2%. BSE mid cap and small cap indices rose 158 and 155 points respectively in afternoon trade.

Stocks in news: JK Tyre, Mindtree, Ashoka Buildcon, Pfizer, Can Fin Homes, Meghmani Organics and more

All 19 BSE sectoral indices were trading in the green. Banking stocks led the gains with BSE bankex rising 418 points to 23,087. BSE IT index too rose 255 points to 14,601. Bank Nifty climbed 344 points or 1.75% to 20,257. Market breadth was positive with 1579 stocks rising against 729 falling on BSE. 122 stocks were unchanged.

Share Market LIVE: Sensex rises 550 points, Nifty at 9,960; Hindalco, JSW Steel, HDFC twins top performers