Mumbai, July 2 -- The domestic equity benchmarks traded with substantial gains in the early trade. The Nifty traded above the 24,100 level. Barring media stocks, all sectoral indices on the NSE traded in the green.

At 09:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, advanced 368.40 points or 0.48% to 77,291.04. The Nifty 50 index gained 119.90 points or 0.49% to 24,124.

In the broader market, the BSE 150 MidCap Index rose 0.27% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index rallied 0.33%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,040 shares rose and 1,014 shares fell. A total of 154 shares were unchanged.

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, fell 2.69% to 12.89.

Foreign portfolio investors ...