The key equity barometers traded with limited gains in early trade. Nifty opened at 23742 and hit a high of 23907 in first half hour of trade. Nifty FMCG, Nifty Financial Services and Nifty Healthcare Index shares gained, while Nifty IT and Nifty Chemicals shares declined.

At 09:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, posted modest gains of 337.23 points or 0.44% to 77,255.08. The Nifty 50 index inched up 78 points or 0.33% to 23,888.85.

The broader market performed worse than frontline indices. The BSE 150 MidCap Index added 0.58% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index edged higher by 0.50%.

The market breadth was encouraging. On the BSE, 2455 shares rose and 1350 shares retreated. A total of 197 shares were unchanged.

Nifty FMCG index rose 1.44% to 46238. The index has edged up 2.24% in last one month and recorded sharp losses of 18.83% over last one year. ITC, up 3.16%, led the gainers followed by Dabur India, inching higher 3.05% and Godfrey Phillips, edging up 2.58%, respectively. All 15 constituents are advancing today.

Nifty Financial Services index added 0.57% to 25503. The index has posted modest gains of 2.85% in last one month and inched down 7.13% over last one year. Shriram Finance, adding 2.15%, led the gainers followed by SBI Cards, gaining 2.14% and HDFC Bank, gaining 2.06%, respectively. Out of 20 index constituents, 17 are reporting gains today.

Nifty IT index moved lower by 0.63%. The index has soared 15.02% in last one month and lost 8.70% over last one year. Wipro, losing 0.89%, led the losers followed by TCS, easing 0.56% and Infosys, slipping 0.56%, respectively. Out of 10 index constituents, 6 are reporting loss today.

In NIFTY500, HEG Advanced Materials is the top gainer today, posting strong gains of 10.18% to Rs 265.25. The counter has added 15.51% in last one year. It recorded an average volume quantity of 118569.50 in last five sessions compared to 98651.81 over last one month.

Asian markets slumped on Wednesday. China’s Shanghai composite is down 0.10%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is slightly lower by 0.11%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 is substantially lower by 4.28%.