Mumbai, March 12 -- The domestic equity benchmarks traded with small gains in early trade. The Nifty traded above 22,300 level. Financial services, IT and private bank stocks advanced while realty, media and FMCG shares declined.

At 09:29 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 77.41 points or 0.11% to 73,580.05. The Nifty 50 index added 6.55 points or 0.03% to 22,339.20.

The broader market underperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index shed 0.74% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 1.49%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 696 shares rose and 2,286 shares fell. A total of 87 shares were unchanged.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth Rs 4,212.76 crore, while domestic institutiona...