Mumbai, Nov. 5 -- The key equity benchmarks continued to trade with major gains in the early afternoon trade, supported by a sharp decline in crude oil prices following the US midterm election results. The Nifty traded above the 24,400 level.

PSU Bank stocks extended their rally for the second consecutive trading session

At 12:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex jumped 1,637.58 points or 2.12% to 78,938.88. The Nifty 50 index surged 473.95 points or 1.97% to 24,433.85.

In the broader market, the BSE 150 MidCap Index gained 1.82% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index added 1.15%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,668 shares rose and 810 shares fell. A total of 98 shares were unchanged.

In the commodities market, Brent ...