Mumbai, Jan. 22 -- The key equity benchmarks pared most of the early gains in early afternoon trade amid profit booking and FII selling with the Nifty trading below 25,300. Market participants remained cautious ahead of Q3 earnings and cues from the World Economic Forum.

Pharma shares jumped after declining in the past nine trading consecutive sessions.

At 12:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex advanced 241.43 points or 0.29% to 82,151.06. The Nifty 50 index jumped 104.45 points or 0.42% to 25,261.95.

The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.81% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.72%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,762 shares rose and 1,231 shares fell. A t...