Mumbai, Dec. 19 -- The key equity benchmarks continued to trade with modest gains in the early afternoon trade. The Nifty traded above the 25,900 level. Auto shares advanced after declining over the past four trading sessions.

At 12:30 ST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, rose 375.54 points or 0.44% to 84,857.35. The Nifty 50 index added 117.20 points or 0.45% to 25,932.40.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.31% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.42%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 2,305 shares rose and 1,591 shares fell. A total of 211 shares were unchanged.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, fell 1.37% to 9.70. The N...