Key benchmarks trimmed gains in mid-afternoon trade. At 14:21 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 179.72 points or 0.51% at 35,754.27. The Nifty 50 index was up 52.65 points or 0.49% at 10,802.40.

After opening lower, the indices bounced back and hit fresh intraday high in early afternoon trade. Indices trimmed gains in afternoon trade.

Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.97%. The BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.71%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On BSE, 1,433 shares rose and 1,066 shares fell. A total of 130 shares were unchanged.

Auto stocks were in demand. Ashok Leyland (up 6.63%), Hero MotoCorp (up 4.42%), Tata Motors (up 4.02%), TVS Motor Company (up 2.68%), Bajaj Auto (up 2.13%), Escorts (up 1.39%), Maruti Suzuki India (up 0.43%) and Mahindra & Mahindra (up 0.27%), edged higher. Eicher Motors was down 0.21%.

Realty shares rose. DLF (up 4.08%), Parsvnath Developers (up 2.33%), D B Realty (up 2%), Indiabulls Real Estate (up 1.81%), Mahindra Lifespace Developers (up 1.78%), Housing Development and Infrastructure (HDIL) (up 1.52%), Sunteck Realty (up 1.22%), Anant Raj (up 1.19%), Prestige Estates Projects (up 1.19%), Peninsula Land (up 0.94%), Phoenix Mills (up 0.89%), Omaxe (up 0.46%) and Godrej Properties (up 0.43%), edged higher. Unitech was down 0.72%.

Sobha gained 4.49% after the company reported robust sales growth in Q1 June 2018. Sobha announced that first quarter performance has been encouraging vis-a-vis the same quarter last year. The company during the first quarter achieved new sales volume of 960,085 square feet total valued at Rs 762.40 crore with an average realisation of Rs 7941 per square feet (Sobha share of sales value at Rs 611.80 crore with an average realisation of Rs 6373 per square feet). The sales volume and total sales value are up by 18% and 22% respectively as compared to corresponding quarter of last year. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 5 July 2018.

The markets of Bengaluru, Gurugram and Kochi continue to perform well and are ably supported by the Coimbatore and Mysore. The company has received RERA approval for one of its Bangalore project during last week of June 2018, namely Sobha Lake Gardens having total saleable area of 0.89 million square feet. This project will be released for sale during July 2018.

Overseas, European shares rose while most Asian stocks edged higher as investors monitored developments on the trade front. US moved ahead with $34 billion worth of duties on Chinese products. China retaliated with its own tariffs. President Donald Trump reportedly said Thursday that an additional $16 billion tariffs on China could come in the next two weeks too.

US stocks settled higher on Thursday, in a broad rally that was led by the technology sector. The minutes from the US Federal Reserve June policy meeting were in line with market expectations for further interest rate increases this year. US central bankers expressed concerns global trade tensions could hit an economy that by most measures looked strong.

On the US data front, the private sector added 177,000 jobs in June, according to the ADP employment report. Separately, initial jobless claims rose by 3,000 in the latest week, although they remained near multi-decade lows. The final Markit services purchasing managers index for June came in at 56.5, compared with 56.8 in May. The Institute for Supply Management's non-manufacturing index for the same month came in at 59.1 from the previous month's reading of 58.6. A reading of at least 50 signals improving conditions.