Mumbai, Oct. 13 -- The key equity benchmarks traded with substantial gains in mid-afternoon trade, supported by a stronger rupee following recent Reserve Bank of India measures and a decline in Brent crude prices, although oil remained above $100 a barrel. Investors remained focused on the September-quarter earnings season, global market cues, upcoming US inflation data and foreign institutional investor (FII) flows.

Auto shares witnessed buying demand for third for consecutive trading session.

At 14:25 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex advanced 696.40 points or 0.96% to 72,609.27. The Nifty 50 index jumped 225.65 points or 1.01% to 22,589.

In the broader market, the BSE 150 MidCap Index added 0.38% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index shed 0.14%.

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