Mumbai, Oct. 29 -- The key equity indices continued to trade with strong gains in early afternoon trade on Thursday. Sentiment improved as Brent crude prices declined amid encouraging signs of renewed diplomatic efforts with Iran, boosting investor optimism. The Nifty traded above 22,800 mark.

PSU Bank shares witnessed buying interest for four consecutive trading sessions.

At 12:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex advanced 592.29 points or 0.81% to 73,838.82. The Nifty 50 index rose 156.95 points or 0.69% to 22,847.40.

In the broader market, the Nifty MidCap 150 Index rose 0.24% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index added 0.26%.

The market breadth was positive. On the NSE, 1,896 shares rose and 1,497 shares fell. A total of 124 s...