Mumbai, April 20 -- The key equity benchmarks traded with modest gains in mid-afternoon trade even as investors remained cautious over developments in West Asia. Nifty traded near the 24,400 level.

Auto shares surge for second consecutive trading sessions.

At 14:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex jumped 212.99 points or 0.27% to 78,706.53. The Nifty 50 index rose 44.40 points or 0.18% to 24,397.95.

In the broader market, the BSE 150 MidCap Index rose 0.16% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index fell 0.01%.

The market breadth was almost even. On the BSE, 1,872 shares rose and 2,456 shares fell. A total of 188 shares were unchanged.

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, rallied ...