Mumbai, July 7 -- The domestic benchmark indices pared early gains and traded with modest advances in mid-morning trade amid profit booking at higher levels. Investors remained focused on stock-specific developments, while tracking the progress of the monsoon and movements in crude oil, gold and silver prices for further market direction. The Nifty traded below the 24,500 mark.

Private bank shares jumped for second consecutive trading sessions.

At 12:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex jumped 264.33 points or 0.34% to 78,551.41. The Nifty 50 index surged 66.15 points or 0.27% to 24,494.95.

In the broader market, the BSE 150 MidCap Index shed 0.26% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index gained 0.67%.

The market breadth was weak. On...