The key equity barometers traded with slight gains in early trade. Nifty opened at 24278 and hit a high of 24297 in first half hour of trade. Nifty IT, Nifty Healthcare Index and Nifty Pharma shares advanced, while Nifty Auto shares fell.

At 09:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, down 83.10 points to 77,389.84. The Nifty 50 index added 16.90 points or 0.07% to 24,224.65.

The broader market outpaced the frontline indices. The BSE 150 MidCap Index posted modest gains of 0.17% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index moved higher by 0.19%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 2117 shares rose and 1621 shares retreated. A total of 236 shares were unchanged.

Nifty IT index posted modest gains of 0.26% to 30398. The index has edged up 2.98% in last one month and tanked 15.93% over last one year. Coforge, gaining 1.18%, led the gainers followed by Oracle Fin.Serv., adding 0.86% and Tech Mahindra, up 0.78%, respectively. Out of 10 index constituents, 8 are reporting gains today.

Nifty Healthcare Index index inched up 0.24% to 16626. The index has posted modest gains of 0.69% in last one month and gained 14.32% over last one year. Glenmark Pharma., inching higher 1.15%, led the gainers followed by Divi's Lab., edging up 0.79% and Piramal Pharma, up 0.69%, respectively. Out of 20 index constituents, 14 are reporting gains today.

Nifty Auto index posted modest losses of 0.27%. The index has risen slightly by 4.87% in last one month and advanced 14.53% over last one year. Hero Motocorp, down 1.58%, led the losers followed by TVS Motor Co., edging lower 0.94% and Uno Minda, losing 0.91%, respectively. Out of 15 index constituents, 10 are reporting loss today.

In NIFTY500, The Bombay Burmah is the top gainer today, skyrocketing 11.43% to Rs 1588.20. The counter has declined 19.34% in last one year. It recorded an average volume quantity of 1948.17 in last five sessions compared to 2364.96 over last one month.

Asian markets were marginally higher on Thursday. China’s Shanghai composite is trading higher by 0.60%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is marginally lower by 0.39%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 is modestly higher by 0.29%.