Mumbai, Feb. 19 -- The domestic equity benchmarks traded with minor gains in early trade. The Nifty traded above 22,000 level. Consumer durables, media and pharma stocks advanced while IT, realty and PSU bank shares declined.

At 09:26 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 68.05 points or 0.09% to 72,494.69. The Nifty 50 index added 35.85 points or 0.16% to 22,078.05.

The broader market outperformed the key indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.29% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index gained 0.74%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,205 shares rose and 896 shares fell. A total of 135 shares were unchanged.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth Rs 253.28 crore, while domestic institutional invest...