Stock market today| Sensex surges 1000 points: 7 major reasons behind the rally

Stock market today: Sensex surges 1000 points, Nifty tops 22,400 mark. What's driving the rally?

Sensex surged 1000 points higher today (March 28) while Nifty50 topped the 22,400 mark. With this, the combined market capitalisation of all listed stocks on BSE jumped by ₹2.74 lakh crore to ₹386.38 lakh crore. This comes after US inflation data triggered worries over a delay in interest rate cuts while US Fed's commentary at the policy meeting earlier this month eased worries.

Stock market today: People look at a screen displaying the Sensex results on the facade of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) building in Mumbai. (Reuters)

Here are top factors behind the Sensex rally today:

1. Strong cues from US markets: Wall Street equities closed higher ahead of a key inflation reading later this week as the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.22%, the S&P 500 was up 0.86% and the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.51%.
2. Asian shares were mixed as Chinese markets recouped losses, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained 1.1%, Shanghai Composite rose 1.2%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 jumped 0.9% and Nikkei 225 lost 1.2%.
3. Financials rose as Reserve Bank of India (RBI) eased recently-tightened rules for lenders' investments in alternative investment funds (AIFs). The central bank relaxed norms which required lenders to set aside higher provisions if they bought into alternative investment funds.
4. At the stock market, Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Finserv rose about 4% each after it was reported that housing finance arm Bajaj Housing Finance initiated preliminary talks for potential initial public offer.
5. Top ten gainers on Nifty50 included ICICI Bank and State Bank of India which added 1.6% and 1.9%, respectively.
6. Foreign portfolio investors bought Indian shares worth ₹2,170 crore on a net basis on March 28.
7. Domestic institutional investors purchased a net ₹1,198 core worth of stocks on the same day.