The key equity barometers traded with limited gains in early trade. Nifty opened at 25214 and hit a high of 25312 in first half hour of trade. Nifty Media, Nifty Financial Services and Nifty Consumer Durables shares advanced, while Nifty Healthcare Index and Nifty IT shares declined.

At 09:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, added 310.20 points or 0.38% to 82,189.60. The Nifty 50 index inched up 43.40 points or 0.17% to 25,298.45.

The broader market underperformed the frontline indices. The BSE 150 MidCap Index moved higher by 0.71% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index climbed 1.01%.

The market breadth was encouraging. On the BSE, 2771 shares gained and 1057 shares fell. A total of 229 shares were unchanged.

Nifty Media index climbed 1.40% to 1743. The index has climbed 5.80% in last one month and posted strong gains of 16.70% over last one year. Netwrk.18 Media, gaining 2.06%, led the gainers followed by Zee Entertainmen, adding 1.92% and Saregama India, inching higher 1.91%, respectively. Out of 10 index constituents, 9 are reporting gains today.

Nifty Financial Services index posted modest gains of 0.94% to 27925. The index has registered sharp gains of 11.25% in last one month and inched up 1.41% over last one year. HDFC Life Insur., up 4%, led the gainers followed by Max Financial, edging up 3.20% and Cholaman.Inv.&Fn, up 3.04%, respectively. Out of 20 index constituents, 19 are reporting gains today.

Nifty Healthcare Index index moved lower by 0.52%. The index has risen 9.51% in last one month and registered sharp gains of 18.37% over last one year. Aurobindo Pharma, down 1.84%, led the losers followed by Alkem Lab, easing 1.43% and Apollo Hospitals, slipping 1.11%, respectively. Out of 20 index constituents, 14 are reporting loss today.

In NIFTY500, Cupid is the top gainer today, recording robust gains of 9.50% to Rs 387.30. The counter has rallied 598.91% in last one year. It recorded an average volume quantity of 1035819.29 in last five sessions compared to 1782548.77 over last one month.

Asian markets posted modest losses on Thursday. China’s Shanghai composite is up 0.20%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is trading lower by 0.94%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 is slightly higher by 0.09%.