The market settled with decent gains, boosted by a firmness in Reliance Industries, HDFC twins and telecom shares. Positive global cues, healthy macro-economic trade data along with a slight recovery in rupee supported gains in today's trade.

The Sensex rose 196.62 points or 0.56% to settle at 35,457.16, its highest closing level since 3 October 2018. The index rose 285.31 points, or 0.81% at the day's high of 35,545.85. The index rose 63.83 points, or 0.18% at the day's low of 35,324.37.

The Nifty 50 index rose 65.50 points or 0.62% to settle at 10,682.20, its highest closing level since 3 October 2018. The index rose 78.45 points, or 0.74% at the day's high of 10,695.15. The index rose 14.45 points, or 0.14% at the day's low of 10,631.15.

Broader market depicted weakness. Among secondary barometers, the BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.04%. The BSE Small-Cap index fell 0.43%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was negative. On BSE, 1130 shares rose and 1506 shares fell. A total of 148 shares were unchanged.

Among the sectoral indices on BSE, the S&P BSE Teck index (up 1.07%) outperformed the Sensex. The S&P BSE Metal index (down 1.59%), the S&P BSE Oil & Gas index (down 0.5%), the S&P BSE Capital Goods index (down 0.09%) underperformed the Sensex.

Telecom shares surged. Vodafone Idea (up 16.42%), Bharti Airtel (up 9.81%), MTNL (up 1.39%), Reliance Communications (up 1.26%) and Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (up 0.89%), edged higher.

Telecom tower infrastructure provider Bharti Infratel rose 1.50%.

Reliance Industries market capitalisation rose to Rs 7.14 lakh crore, overtaking TCS' market cap of Rs 7.06 lakh crore, to become India's most valuable company.

Reliance Industries rose 2.79% at Rs 1127.50. TCS rose 0.90% at Rs 1,882.25.

HDFC rose 1.67% at Rs 1883.20. HDFC Bank rose 1.26% at Rs 1998.90.

Auto major Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) rose 0.20%. The company announced during trading hours today, 16 November 2018, that effective 1st January 2019, it will increase the price of the Marazzo by Rs 30,000 - Rs 40,000. According to Veejay Ram Nakra, Chief of Sales and Marketing - Automotive Division, Mahindra & Mahindra, “As mentioned at the launch, the price of Marazzo was an introductory one. Effective January 1st 2019, we will be taking a price hike on the Marazzo, after a reasonable period of 4 months from its launch.”

Infosys fell 0.90%. The company announced that the board of directors at its meeting on 15 November 2018, appointed Jayesh Sanghrajka as the interim Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Key Managerial Personnel of the Company with effect from 17 November 2018. The board is in the process of selecting the next CFO. The current CFO, M.D. Ranganath will step down on 16 November 2018. Jayesh Sanghrajka has spent 13 years in Infosys over two stints and has performed various leadership roles in the finance function. He is currently Executive Vice President and Deputy Chief Financial Officer at Infosys. Mr. Sanghrajka has over 20 years of experience and is a Chartered Accountant. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 15 November 2018.

Yes Bank fell 7.14%. The bank informed that Mr. O. P. Bhatt has tendered his resignation from his duties as an External Expert of the 'Search & Selection Committee' ('S&SC') with immediate effect citing that there may be a potential conflict of interest. The Nomination & Remuneration Committee ('NRC') of the Bank while accepting Mr. Bhatt's resignation has recognized his guidance and inputs during his association with the S&SC as an External Expert. The announcement was made after market hours yesterday, 15 November 2018.

On the economic front, India's exports rose by 17.86% to $26.98 billion in October mainly due to the low base effect even as trade deficit widened to $17.13 billion, according to the commerce ministry data. Imports during October also rose by 17.62% to $44.11 billion, leading to widening of trade deficit to $17.13 billion. The deficit widened despite a steep decline of 42.9% in gold imports to $1.68 billion during the month under review. The trade gap was $14.61 billion in October 2017.

In the foreign exchange market, the rupee edged higher against the dollar. The partially convertible rupee was hovering at 71.85, compared with its close of 71.975 during the previous trading session.

In global commodities markets, Brent crude oil futures edged higher. Brent for January 2019 settlement was up 89 cents at $67.51 a barrel.

Overseas, most European and Asian stocks edged higher Friday, as investors closely monitored ongoing political turmoil in the UK. Market focus is largely attuned to Brexit developments, amid heightened fears the country could soon crash out of the European Union without a divorce deal.

The UK was thrust into political turmoil on Thursday following a spate of resignations from Prime Minister Theresa May's government, including Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab, who said he could not accept the deal after the promises the ruling Conservative Party made to the country in an election manifesto last year.

US stocks snapped a multi-day skid, finishing higher on Thursday buoyed by renewed hopes the US and China can strike a compromise on trade. Cautious optimism took hold following a report that the US may back off from its belligerent stance against China on trade while solid economic data offset underwhelming earnings from Walmart Inc.

A media report suggested that the US and China may step up efforts to resolve their trade conflict, starting with postponing higher tariffs and allowing working level negotiators to iron out a deal.

On the US data front, first-time jobless claims for the week ending 10 November 2018 rose 2,000 to 216,000 in the week ended 10 November 2018. The Philly Fed index dropped 9.3 points to 12.9, a three-month low. The Empire State index rose 2.2 points to 23.3 in November.