The key equity barometers traded with slight losses in early trade. Nifty opened at 24078 and hit a high of 24083 in first half hour of trade. Nifty FMCG, Nifty Media and Nifty Metal shares advanced, while Nifty Healthcare Index and Nifty Realty shares declined.

At 09:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, posted modest losses of 91.89 points or 0.12% to 76,865.38. The Nifty 50 index lost 41.30 points or 0.17% to 24,039.10.

The broader market outpaced the frontline indices. The BSE 150 MidCap Index inched down 0.32% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index edged higher by 0.04%.

The market breadth was encouraging. On the BSE, 1916 shares gained and 1795 shares fell. A total of 232 shares were unchanged.

Nifty FMCG index edged higher by 0.78% to 46383. The index has declined 6.30% in last one month and slumped 18.07% over last one year. ITC, gaining 3.16%, led the gainers followed by Patanjali Foods, inching higher 0.41% and Marico, edging up 0.22%, respectively. Out of 15 index constituents, 6 are reporting gains today.

Nifty Media index added 0.65% to 1568. The index has eased by 3.79% in last one month and posted modest losses of 3.08% over last one year. Netwrk.18 Media, adding 2.06%, led the gainers followed by PVR Inox, up 1.86% and Zee Entertainmen, edging up 1.72%, respectively. Out of 10 index constituents, 6 are reporting gains today.

Nifty Healthcare Index index shed 1.60%. The index has inched higher by 1.11% in last one month and recorded robust gains of 17.73% over last one year. Laurus Labs, losing 2.08%, led the losers followed by Mankind Pharma, edging lower 1.68% and Fortis Health., easing 1.46%, respectively. Out of 20 index constituents, 17 are reporting loss today.

In NIFTY500, Vardhman Textile is the top gainer today, spiking 8.91% to Rs 621.85. The counter is sharply higher by 36.77% in last one year. It recorded an average volume quantity of 11611 in last five sessions compared to 14190.18 over last one month.

Asian markets slipped on Tuesday. China’s Shanghai composite is modestly higher by 0.03%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is trading lower by 1.15%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 is down 0.13%.