Benchmarks turn range bound

Key benchmarks turned range bound in early afternoon trade. At 12:24 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 692.09 points or 2.04% at 34,693.24. The Nifty 50 index was up 215 points or 2.10% at 10,449.65. Sentiment was upbeat, backed by recovery in other Asian shares.

Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was up 2.27%. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 2.41%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was strong. On BSE, 1895 shares rose and 503 shares fell. A total of 116 shares were unchanged.

Overseas, Asia stocks rose on Friday, holding steady after a nine-day losing streak, but sentiment was frail after Wall Street shares crumbled and expectations of market volatility shot up to an eight-month high. Worries about the economic impact of a Sino-US trade war, a spike in US bond yields this week and caution ahead of earnings seasons are all cited as potential reasons behind the selloff, the biggest market rout since February.

US stocks extended losses to finish lower Thursday, as investors continued to fret over rising bond yields and the prospect of higher interest rates.

In the latest US economic data, jobless claims rose by 7,000 in the latest week, although they remain near multi-decade lows. Separately, the consumer-price index rose 0.1% in September. Core CPI, which excludes food and energy, rose at the same pace.

Back home, cement shares rose. Ambuja Cements (up 5.11%), ACC (up 3.29%) and UltraTech Cement (up 2.13%), edged higher.

Grasim Industries was up 0.67%. Grasim has exposure to cement sector through its holding in UltraTech Cement.

Most telecom shares rose. Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (up 5.49%), Vodafone Idea (up 3.62%), Reliance Communications (up 2.03%) and MTNL (up 1.23%), edged higher. Bharti Airtel was down 0.09%.

Telecom tower infrastructure provider Bharti Infratel was up 4.71%.

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