The key equity barometers traded with slight losses in early trade. Nifty opened at 24285 and hit a high of 24313 in first half hour of trade. Nifty Metal, Nifty IT and Nifty Media shares rose, while Nifty PSU Bank and Nifty Consumer Durables shares retreated.

At 09:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, moved lower by 186.22 points or 0.24% to 77,354.61. The Nifty 50 index posted modest losses of 57.30 points or 0.24% to 24,194.70.

The broader market performed better than frontline indices. The BSE 150 MidCap Index remained flat and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index moved higher by 0.11%.

The market breadth was soft. On the BSE, 2468 shares gained and 2489 shares declined. A total of 262 shares were unchanged.

Nifty Metal index gained 1.05% to 13311. The index has edged up 4.35% in last one month and soared 38.75% over last one year. S A I L, inching higher 3.33%, led the gainers followed by Welspun Corp, gaining 2.97% and Natl. Aluminium, up 2.11%, respectively. Out of 15 index constituents, 12 are reporting gains today.

Nifty IT index moved higher by 0.48% to 30678. The index has added 5.34% in last one month and fell 14.53% over last one year. Infosys, edging up 1.38%, led the gainers followed by HCL Technologies, adding 1.09% and Oracle Fin.Serv., edging up 0.92%, respectively. Out of 10 index constituents, 8 are reporting gains today.

Nifty PSU Bank index slipped 1.10%. The index has posted modest gains of 0.95% in last one month and jumped 21.80% over last one year. Canara Bank, losing 1.78%, led the losers followed by Bank of Baroda, edging lower 1.73% and SBI, slipping 0.99%, respectively. Out of 12 index constituents, 9 are reporting loss today.

In NIFTY500, L T Foods is the top gainer today, spiking 10.23% to Rs 470.95. The counter is modestly lower by 4.73% in last one year. It recorded an average volume quantity of 35744 in last five sessions compared to 65331.25 over last one month.

Asian markets sank on Monday. China’s Shanghai composite is trading lower by 0.81%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is substantially lower by 1.79%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 is lower by 0.74%.