The key equity barometers traded with modest gains in early trade. Nifty opened at 23222 and hit a high of 23293 in first half hour of trade. Nifty PSU Bank, Nifty Metal and Nifty Auto shares gained, while Nifty Media and Nifty Pharma shares retreated.

At 09:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, climbed 914.79 points or 1.23% to 75,374.32. The Nifty 50 index advanced 201.10 points or 0.87% to 23,254.20.

The broader market performed worse than frontline indices. The BSE 150 MidCap Index gained 0.80% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index rose 1.21%.

The market breadth was favorable. On the BSE, 2701 shares gained and 1321 shares declined. A total of 247 shares were unchanged.

Nifty PSU Bank index rose 1.51% to 8359. The index has posted modest gains of 2.73% in last one month and added 2.19% over last one year. Bank of Baroda, edging up 4.49%, led the gainers followed by Bank of India, up 1.92% and Pun. & Sind Bank, adding 1.87%, respectively. Out of 12 index constituents, 11 are reporting gains today.

Nifty Metal index rallied 1.32% to 11940. The index has lost 7.65% in last one month and inched up 9.84% over last one year. Tata Steel, inching higher 3.40%, led the gainers followed by S A I L, gaining 2.44% and Natl. Aluminium, gaining 2.32%, respectively. Out of 15 index constituents, 14 are reporting gains today.

Nifty Media index edged lower by 0.45%. The index has moved higher by 3.03% in last one month and posted modest gains of 4.64% over last one year. Zee Entertainmen, losing 2.05%, led the losers followed by Sun TV Network, easing 1.64% and Prime Focus, down 1.20%, respectively. Out of 10 index constituents, 5 are reporting loss today.

In NIFTY500, ITI is the top gainer today, recording robust gains of 11.35% to Rs 240.35. The counter is sharply down 34.40% in last one year. It recorded an average volume quantity of 18715.83 in last five sessions compared to 20780.67 over last one month.

Asian markets soared on Monday. China’s Shanghai composite is trading higher by 1.16%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is higher by 0.62%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 is marginally higher by 0.45%.