Mumbai, May 2 -- The frontline indices continued to trade in a narrow range with modest gains in early afternoon trade. The Nifty traded near the 22,700 level. Oil & gas shares advanced after declining in the past trading session. Trading could be a volatile due to the expiry of weekly index options on the NSE.

At 12:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 284.09 points or 0.38% to 74,767.93. The Nifty 50 index added 91.65 points or 0.41% to 22,696.50.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.89% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.40%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 2,004 shares rose and 1,703 shares fell. A total of 139 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

Despite falling from 59.1 in Mar...