Mumbai, Oct. 13 -- The key equity benchmarks continued to trade higher in afternoon trade, with the Nifty holding above 22,500, supported by strong buying in IT stocks following HCLTech's Q2 results. Sentiment was also 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.

At 13:20 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex jumped 565.17 points or 0.79% to 72,489.85. The Nifty 50 index rose 177.80 points or 0.80% to 22,541.15.

HCL Technologies (up 7.45%), Tata Consultancy Services (up 5.88%) a...