BENGALURU, Aug 4 Reuters Indian shares advanced on Friday as Cipla39;s surge to a record high led drugmakers higher, while metal stocks gained on hopes that China would soon roll out measures to boost its economic recovery.

The Nifty 50 index was up 0.49 at 19,476.60 at 1011 a.m. IST, while the SP BSE Sensex rose 0.48 to 65,553.70.

Still, the Nifty is down 1 so far this week, set for its worst week in over three months, having remained under pressure for the past few sessions on weak global cues, including the U.S. sovereign rating cut and weak China data.

Eleven of the 13 sectoral indexes logged gains on the day, with the metal index rising 0.5 on hopes after China39;s central bank governor pledged on Thursday, to guide more financial resources towards the private economy.

Pharma stocks gained over 1, led by Cipla 6.25 surge to a record high on a report that Blackstone was looking to buy a stake in the drug maker. Cipla was the top Nifty 50 gainer.

The broader markets continued to outperform their larger peers, with the more domestically focused midcaps and smallcaps adding over 0.7 each.

The interest in broader markets is driven by cost efficiencies, higher sales volumes and operational improvements, said Rahul Sharma, head of technical research at Mumbaibased investment advisory firm Equity99.

Midcaps and smallcaps have notable scope for margin improvement in the near future.

Asian markets edged higher, while Wall Street equities closed marginally lower…