The key equity barometers traded with modest losses in early trade. Nifty opened at 24152 and hit a high of 24173 in first half hour of trade. Nifty IT, Nifty FMCG and Nifty Media shares gained, while Nifty Metal and Nifty Chemicals shares fell. At 09:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, moved lower by 216.78 points or 0.28% to 77,018.68. The Nifty 50 index inched down 48.85 points or 0.20% to 24,106.05. The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The BSE 150 MidCap Index posted modest losses of 0.44% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index edged lower by 0.45%. The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1687 shares rose and 2087 shares declined. A total of 189 shares were unchanged. Nifty IT index inched up 0.72% to 30431. The index has posted modest gains of 3.61% in last one month and fell 12.77% over last one year. Coforge, gaining 2.18%, led the gainers followed by Persistent Systems, adding 1.73% and HCL Technologies, edging up 1.60%, respectively. Out of 10 index constituents, 8 are reporting gains today. Nifty FMCG index posted modest gains of 0.37% to 47912. The index has inched lower by 2.72% in last one month and slipped 13.69% over last one year. Marico, up 0.96%, led the gainers followed by United Breweries, inching higher 0.55% and Nestle India, inching higher 0.55%, respectively. Out of 15 index constituents, 11 are reporting gains today. Nifty Metal index inched down 0.66%. The index has risen slightly by 3.84% in last one month and soared 38.75% over last one year. Natl. Aluminium, losing 1.57%, led the losers followed by JSW Steel, edging lower 1.31% and NMDC, slipping 1.19%, respectively. Out of 15 index constituents, 12 are reporting loss today. In NIFTY500, Railtel Corpn. is the top gainer today, advancing 4.98% to Rs 290.95. The counter has recorded sharp losses of 21.36% in last one year. It recorded an average volume quantity of 28723 in last five sessions compared to 43504.91 over last one month. Asian markets sank on Wednesday. China’s Shanghai composite is significantly lower by 1.96%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is marginally higher by 0.16%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 is sharply lower by 2.66%.