The key equity barometers traded with limited losses in early trade. Nifty opened at 24342 and hit a high of 24379 in first half hour of trade. Nifty PSU Bank, Nifty Private Bank and Nifty Bank shares rose, while Nifty Consumer Durables and Nifty IT shares retreated.

At 09:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, up 131.62 points to 77,787.71. The Nifty 50 index inched down 13.70 points or 0.06% to 24,320.85.

The broader market lagged behind the frontline indices. The BSE 150 MidCap Index inched up 0.47% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index added 0.69%.

The market breadth was encouraging. On the BSE, 2958 shares advanced and 1561 shares declined. A total of 241 shares were unchanged.

Nifty PSU Bank index advanced 1.26% to 8712. The index has risen slightly by 2.86% in last one month and soared 23.26% over last one year. Bank of Maha, up 4.04%, led the gainers followed by Bank of India, adding 1.88% and Indian Bank, edging up 1.59%, respectively. All 12 constituents are advancing today.

Nifty Private Bank index edged higher by 0.99% to 27720. The index has posted modest gains of 0.20% in last one month and added 2.81% over last one year. Kotak Mah. Bank, inching higher 2.69%, led the gainers followed by IDFC First Bank, gaining 1.19% and ICICI Bank, adding 1.11%, respectively. Out of 10 index constituents, 8 are reporting gains today.

Nifty Consumer Durables index edged lower by 0.41%. The index has inched higher by 4.35% in last one month and inched up 4.66% over last one year. Crompton Gr. Con, down 1.69%, led the losers followed by Dixon Technolog., edging lower 0.87% and Blue Star, easing 0.62%, respectively. Out of 13 index constituents, 7 are reporting loss today.

In NIFTY500, Capri Global is the top gainer today, climbing 4.96% to Rs 251.75. The counter has posted strong gains of 26.55% in last one year. It recorded an average volume quantity of 231109.33 in last five sessions compared to 299563.50 over last one month.

Asian markets posted sharp gains on Wednesday. China’s Shanghai composite is trading higher by 0.54%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is ahead by 0.64%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 is higher by 0.72%.