The key equity barometers traded with marginal gains in early trade. Nifty opened at 22671 and hit a high of 22738 in first half hour of trade. Nifty IT, Nifty Private Bank and Nifty 50 shares gained, while Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Metal shares fell.

At 09:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, inched up 518.38 points or 0.71% to 73,300.27. The Nifty 50 index edged higher by 95.55 points or 0.42% to 22,718.25.

The broader market lagged behind the frontline indices. The BSE 150 MidCap Index edged lower by 0.31% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index posted modest losses of 0.42%.

The market breadth was unfavorable. On the BSE, 1709 shares advanced and 2029 shares retreated. A total of 219 shares were unchanged.

Nifty IT index rose 1.70% to 30684. The index has posted modest gains of 2.08% in last one month and slipped 14.32% over last one year. TCS, up 2.51%, led the gainers followed by Tech Mahindra, gaining 2.41% and Infosys, adding 2.03%, respectively. Out of 10 index constituents, 8 are reporting gains today.

Nifty Private Bank index added 0.70% to 27358. The index has edged up 0.36% in last one month and edged lower by 1.91% over last one year. ICICI Bank, edging up 1.44%, led the gainers followed by Axis Bank, inching higher 1.12% and IndusInd Bank, gaining 0.85%, respectively. Out of 10 index constituents, 9 are reporting gains today.

Nifty PSU Bank index shed 1.40%. The index has inched higher by 0.11% in last one month and moved higher by 7.52% over last one year. Canara Bank, moving lower 5.45%, led the losers followed by Bank of Maha, losing 3.28% and Bank of India, easing 3.19%, respectively. Out of 12 index constituents, 9 are reporting loss today.

In NIFTY500, BLS Internat. is the top gainer today, surging 8.59% to Rs 238.90. The counter has plunged 24.72% in last one year. It recorded an average volume quantity of 55652.33 in last five sessions compared to 90097.76 over last one month.

Asian markets slumped on Thursday. China’s Shanghai composite is substantially lower by 1.98%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is sharply lower by 1.71%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 is significantly lower by 5.12%.