NEW DELHI: The 50-share NSE Nifty index surpassed the 10,400-mark for the first time ever on Wednesday, whereas the 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 387 points to 33,600.27. So what's driving Dalal Street bulls? Going by the buzz, here are five factors lifting market sentiment:

Firm global cues : Benchmark equity indices BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty index opened higher on Wednesday tracking positive leads from Asian markets and overnight gains in the US market. US equity markets closed higher on Tuesday, with the Nasdaq ending at a record as quarterly results kept equities drifting near all-time highs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.12 per cent, the S&P 500 added about 0.09 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.43 per cent.

Easy of doing business: The World Bank, after market hours on Tuesday, released the Doing Business (DB) Report, 2018. India ranks 100 among 190 countries assessed by the Doing Business Team. India has leapt 30 ranks over its rank of 130 in the Doing Business Report 2017.

Buying in heavyweights: Some buying in select index heavyweights lifted benchmark equity indices by over 1 per cent in morning trade on Wednesday. Bharti Airtel was trading over 7 per cent up post better than expected financial results. The telecom major on Tuesday after market hours reported sixth straight quarter of drop in earnings as its consolidated net profit plunged to Rs 343 crore for the September quarter, hit by the price war triggered by newcomer Reliance Jio. It had reported net profit of Rs 1,461 crore in the same period last year. Average estimate in an ET poll of analysts was Rs 305.64 crore. ICICI Bank, State Bank of India and Axis Bank were also up between 2.50 per cent and 5 per cent. Shares of SBI were trading higher after the bank on Tuesday, announced a 5-basis-point cut in its benchmark lending rates across maturity.

FPIs turned net buyer: After remaining on selling spree for two consecutive months in August and September, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) turned net buyers in October. The pumped in Rs 3,055 crore (net) last month, as per data available with NSDL.

Positive macro-economic data: The eight core infrastructure sector, carrying 40.27 per cent of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), has shown healthy 5.2 per cent increase in its output in September 2017 over September 2016. Its cumulative growth was 3.3 per cent in April-September 2017. The data was announced after market hours on Tuesday.