Mumbai, March 20 -- The key equity benchmarks traded near intraday high with major gains in the mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty traded above the 23,200 level. Oil & gas shares witnessed buying demand for third consecutive trading session.

At 14:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, rallied 989.39 points, or 1.30%, to 76,432.44. The Nifty 50 index jumped 305.65 points, or 1.33%, to 23,213.25.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.73%, and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.81%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,464 shares rose and 1,485 shares fell. A total of 144 shares were unchanged.

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, tumbled 3.23% to 12....