The key equity barometers traded with marginal losses in early trade. Nifty opened at 22544 and hit a high of 22590 in first half hour of trade. Nifty IT, Nifty Private Bank and Nifty Bank shares advanced, while Nifty Auto and Nifty Realty shares declined.

At 09:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, posted modest losses of 142.67 points or 0.20% to 72,337.62. The Nifty 50 index moved lower by 107 points or 0.47% to 22,513.45.

The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The BSE 150 MidCap Index inched down 0.47% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index lost 0.75%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1267 shares rose and 2539 shares fell. A total of 237 shares were unchanged.

Nifty IT index gained 1.43% to 28100. The index has plunged 11.18% in last one month and slumped 17.68% over last one year. Mphasis, adding 2.11%, led the gainers followed by Infosys, inching higher 1.47% and HCL Technologies, up 1.40%, respectively. Out of 10 index constituents, 8 are reporting gains today.

Nifty Private Bank index added 0.61% to 26858. The index has eased by 4.68% in last one month and edged higher by 0.88% over last one year. Kotak Mah. Bank, edging up 2.66%, led the gainers followed by RBL Bank, gaining 0.90% and Axis Bank, gaining 0.69%, respectively. Out of 10 index constituents, 6 are reporting gains today.

Nifty Auto index fell 2.82%. The index has lost 8.83% in last one month and moved lower by 0.94% over last one year. Bajaj Auto, moving down 5.45%, led the losers followed by Uno Minda, slipping 3.42% and M & M, edging lower 2.97%, respectively. All 15 index constituents are reporting losses today.

In NIFTY500, T R I L is the top gainer today, posting strong gains of 7.18% to Rs 289.50. The counter has slumped 44.48% in last one year. It recorded an average volume quantity of 76515.33 in last five sessions compared to 115330.32 over last one month.

Asian markets recorded robust advances on Thursday. China’s Shanghai composite is slightly higher by 0.31%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is modestly lower by 0.12%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 is sharply higher by 2.72%.