Mumbai, Aug. 12 -- The headline equity benchmarks recovered from mid-morning losses and traded with modest gains in early afternoon trade. The Nifty traded above the 24,600 level. Metal shares extended gains for the second for trading session.

At 12:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex rose 53.79 points or 0.07% to 80,664.07. The Nifty 50 index added 29.60 points or 0.12% to 24,614.65.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.10% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.33%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE 2,248 shares rose and 1,598 shares fell. A total of 117 shares were unchanged.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, shed 0.02%...