The Sensex and the Nifty held firm at higher levels in mid-afternoon trade. At 14:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 213.97 points or 0.55% at 39,266.03. The Nifty 50 index was up 66 points or 0.57% at 11,652.35.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 1.69%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 1.50%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 1550 shares rose and 851 shares fell and a total of 175 shares were unchanged.

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

Auto stocks were on the roll. Ashok Leyland (up 5.92%), TVS Motors Company (up 3.75%), SML Isuzu (up 1.72%), Maruti Suzuki India (up 1.61%), Hero MotoCorp (up 0.94%), Mahindra and Mahindra (up 0.12%) and Tata Motors (up 0.12%) were top gainers in auto segment.

Auto components maker Sundaram-Clayton rose 3.99%. The company announced its Q2 earnings during market hours today. On a consolidated basis, the firm's net profit rose 9.17% to Rs 149.77 crore on a 10.37% fall in revenue from operations to Rs 5220.75 crore in Q2 September 2019 over Q2 September 2018.

Meanwhile, the yield on 10-year benchmark federal paper rose to 6.810% at 14:23 IST compared with 6.699% in the previous trading session.

In the foreign exchange market, the partially convertible rupee edged higher and was hovering at 71.12, compared with its close of 71.16, during the previous trading session.

In the commodities market, Brent crude for December 2019 settlement was down 2 cents at $59.89 a barrel. The contract rose 0.82% to settle at $59.91 a barrel during the previous trading session.

MCX Gold futures for 5 December 2019 settlement edged 0.44% lower to Rs 38,029.

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