Key barometers traded near the day's high in afternoon trade. At 13:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 187.54 points or 0.48% at 39,239.60. The Nifty 50 index was up 56.20 points or 0.50% at 11,644.45.

The market sentiment was boosted by foreign funds turning net buyers of Indian stocks in the past few sessions. The trading activity showed that the foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1158.63 crore yesterday, 17 October 2019, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.

Traders awaited fresh cues on potential trade deal between the US and China. Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will today, 18 October 2019, announce the minutes of its fourth bi-monthly monetary policy review meeting held on 4 October 2019.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 1.55%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 1.47%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 1505 shares rose and 801 shares fell and a total of 173 shares were unchanged. In Nifty 50 index, 31 stocks advanced and 19 stocks declined.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (up 2.87%) Coal India (up 2.83%), Grasim Industries (up 2.08%), Power Grid Corporation of India (up 1.45%) and Tech Mahindra (up 1.42%) advanced.

Tata Motors (down 0.84%), Eicher Motors (down 0.83%), Bajaj Auto (down 0.82%), Hindalco Industries (down 0.64%) and Bharti Airtel (down 0.53%) declined.

Reliance Industries (RIL) rose 1.90% to Rs 1422.65, ahead of its Q2 results today. RIL has become the first Indian company to cross Rs 9 trillion market capitalization after its shares hit its 52-week high of Rs 1428 in intraday today.

Larsen & Toubro rose 1.78% to Rs 1449.60. L&T informed about the acquisition of 81.90 lakh shares, aggregating to 2.551% of the shareholding, of its subsidiary L&T Infrastructure Development Projects for a cash consideration of Rs 47.997 crore.

Zee Entertainment Enterprises fell 3.70% to Rs 254.90. The company's consolidated net profit rose 6.87% to Rs 413.23 crore on 7.4% rise in net sales to Rs 2122.01 crore in Q2 September 2019 over Q2 September 2018. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 17 October 2019.

ARSS Infrastructure Projects hit 5% upper circuit at Rs 24.05. The construction company informed during market hours today, 18 October 2019, that it has secured a work order of Rs 76.15 crore for construction of handling platforms, railway track, truck parking area, buildings and other ancillary facilities for IFFCO at MMLP Paradip, Odisha. The contract was awarded in favor of the company's joint venture named ARSS-BDPL (JV) by Container Corporation of India on 17 October 2019.

K.P.R. Mill surged 5.72% to Rs 600. The apparel manufacturer informed Sebi has allowed it to proceed with the buyback offer. On 11 July 2019, K.P.R. Mill had cancelled the buyback proposal because of the increase in the amount of buyback obligation due to the tax proposal in the Finance Bill 2019.

The Nifty Bank index was up 0.31% at 29,078.60, extending previous session's gains.

Among the private sector banks, Yes Bank (up 7.07%), City Union Bank (up 1.91%), HDFC Bank (up 0.58%), Kotak Mahindra Bank (up 0.55%), RBL Bank (up 0.53%), Federal Bank (up 0.06%) advanced.

Among the public sector banks, IDBI Bank (up 5.18%), Indian Bank (up 5.02%), Punjab & Sind Bank (up 4.9%), Allahabad Bank (up 4.04%), United Bank of India (up 3.69%), Corporation Bank (up 3.6%), Central Bank of India (up 2.95%), Syndicate Bank (up 2.87%), Union Bank of India (up 2.21%), Punjab National Bank (up 1.69%), Bank of Baroda (up 1.57%), Andhra Bank (up 1.56%), Canara Bank (up 1.39%), Bank of India (up 1.34%), State Bank of India (up 1.24%), UCO Bank (up 0.42%) edged higher.

South Indian Bank rose 5.03% to Rs 10.45 after the bank's net profit rose 20.5% to Rs 84.48 crore on a 18.8% increase in total income to Rs 2203.18 crore in Q2 September 2019 over Q2 September 2018.

Overseas, shares in Europe and Asia declined on Friday after China posted its weakest growth in nearly three decades.

China Gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 6% in third quarter ended September 2019, compared with 6.2% in the second quarter, official figures showed on Friday. The Chinese economy grew at 6.6% in 2018. However, the Industrial Production rose 5.8% year-on-year in September, after growth of 4.4% in August. Meanwhile, consumer spending, as represented by Retail Sales, rose 7.8% year-on-year in September.

On the U.S.-China trade front, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow's commented that he sees momentum to finalize the initial phase of a U.S.-China trade deal outlined last week, adding it may be signed at the APEC forum next month.

Yesterday, Britain and the European Union agreed to a draft Brexit deal. At a news conference with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said the deal meant there would be no need for a further delay to Britain's departure and negotiations on the future relationship between Britain and the EU would begin as soon as the deal was approved by the UK and European parliaments.

Meanwhile, French automobile major Renault cut its full-year revenue and profit forecast amid a broad-based slump in auto sales as China's poor growth stirs fear among investors.

The US stock market finished session near records high on Thursday as risk sentiments boosted up by better than expected corporate earnings reports from U.S. companies such as Netflix and Morgan Stanley and optimism from a Brexit draft agreement.

US industrial production fell by 0.4% in September after climbing by an upwardly revised 0.8% in August, the Federal Reserve released a report on Thursday.

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