The key equity barometers traded with marginal gains in early trade. Nifty opened at 24225 and hit a high of 24227 in first half hour of trade. Nifty IT, Nifty Media and Nifty Private Bank shares advanced. At 09:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, moved higher by 512.01 points or 0.67% to 77,421.69. The Nifty 50 index edged higher by 126.70 points or 0.53% to 24,205. The broader market lagged behind the frontline indices. The BSE 150 MidCap Index inched up 0.73% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index added 0.78%. The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 3000 shares gained and 1533 shares fell. A total of 264 shares were unchanged. Nifty IT index gained 1.28% to 30822. The index has edged up 4.36% in last one month and slipped 12.44% over last one year. Coforge, inching higher 3.12%, led the gainers followed by Persistent Systems, gaining 2.75% and Infosys, edging up 1.81%, respectively. All 10 constituents are advancing today. Nifty Media index climbed 1.10% to 1605. The index has risen slightly by 3.22% in last one month and inched down 5.02% over last one year. Zee Entertainmen, adding 3.71%, led the gainers followed by Prime Focus, up 1.65% and Netwrk.18 Media, inching higher 1.25%, respectively. Out of 10 index constituents, 8 are reporting gains today. Nifty Private Bank index posted modest gains of 0.94% to 27464. The index has inched lower by 2.35% in last one month and inched up 0.63% over last one year. Bandhan Bank, up 3.25%, led the gainers followed by RBL Bank, gaining 1.76% and Axis Bank, edging up 1.56%, respectively. Out of 10 index constituents, 9 are reporting gains today. In NIFTY500, MMTC is the top gainer today, rallying 6.96% to Rs 66.42. The counter is down 4.82% in last one year. It recorded an average volume quantity of 72561.83 in last five sessions compared to 101911.26 over last one month. Asian markets posted sharp gains on Thursday. China’s Shanghai composite is slightly higher by 0.20%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is significantly higher by 1.34%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 is trading higher by 1.16%.