Mumbai, April 15 -- The key equity benchmarks traded with major gains in early trade. The Nifty traded near the 23,300 level. All the sectoral indices on the NSE traded in the green, with realty, auto and metal shares gaining the most.

At 09:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, surged 1,578.83 points or 2.11% to 76,742.15. The Nifty 50 index jumped 467 points or 2.05% to 23,295.55.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index advanced 1.63% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index railled 1.87%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,547 shares rose and 385 shares fell. A total of 148 shares were unchanged.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 2,519.03 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs...