Mumbai, Feb. 16 -- The key equity benchmarks traded with modest gains in mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty traded above the 25,600 level after hitting the day's low of 25,372.70 in early trade. PSU Bank shares advanced after declining in the previous two trading sessions.

At 14:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, jumped 393.93 points or 0.48% to 83,020.69. The Nifty 50 index rose 150.15 points or 0.59% to 25,621.30.

In the broader market, the BSE 150 MidCap Index added 0.31% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index slipped 0.29%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,688 shares rose and 2,529 shares fell. A total of 185 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

India's wholesale price index (WPI) inflation increased to 1.81% in Januar...