The key equity barometers traded with limited losses in early trade. Nifty opened at 24152 and hit a high of 24173 in first half hour of trade. Nifty Chemicals, Nifty Consumer Durables and Nifty Financial Services shares declined, while Nifty IT shares advanced. At 09:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, lost 295.75 points or 0.38% to 76,939.71. The Nifty 50 index inched down 102.95 points or 0.43% to 24,051.95. The broader market surpassed the frontline indices. The BSE 150 MidCap Index edged lower by 0.46% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index moved lower by 0.47%. The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1883 shares gained and 2615 shares declined. A total of 246 shares were unchanged. Nifty Chemicals index retreated 1%. The index has posted modest gains of 0.73% in last one month and edged higher by 5.26% over last one year. Himadri Special, moving down 7.27%, led the losers followed by Solar Industries, edging lower 2% and SRF, down 1.33%, respectively. Out of 20 index constituents, 16 are reporting loss today. Nifty Consumer Durables index moved lower by 0.58%. The index has risen slightly by 1.47% in last one month and added 4.34% over last one year. Bata India, falling 5.37%, led the losers followed by Voltas, slipping 2.71% and LG Electronics, losing 1.72%, respectively. Out of 13 index constituents, 11 are reporting loss today. Nifty IT index moved higher by 0.22% to 30280. The index has inched higher by 3.61% in last one month and shed 12.77% over last one year. Coforge, adding 2.38%, led the gainers followed by Persistent Systems, up 1.02% and Oracle Fin.Serv., inching higher 0.85%, respectively. Out of 10 index constituents, 7 are reporting gains today. In NIFTY500, C P C L is the top gainer today, spiking 5.47% to Rs 1481. The counter has posted strong gains of 123.91% in last one year. It recorded an average volume quantity of 335075.83 in last five sessions compared to 202854.50 over last one month. Asian markets plunged on Wednesday. China’s Shanghai composite is significantly lower by 2.32%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is modestly higher by 0.10%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 is substantially lower by 3.17%.