Mumbai, Oct. 16 -- The key equity benchmarks continued to trade with modest gains in mid-afternoon trade, supported by buying interest in heavyweight stocks. Investors remained focused on September-quarter earnings, with the Nifty hovering above the 23,100 mark.

Market participants will track global developments, foreign institutional investor (FII) flows and further corporate earnings announcements for cues on market direction.

Auto shares advanced for the second consecutive trading sessions.

At 14:25 IST, the S&P BSE Sensex jumped 261.45 points or 0.35% to 74,577.07. The Nifty 50 index added 93 points or 0.40% to 23,087.90.

In the broader market, the Nifty MidCap 150 index was down 0.08%, while the Nifty SmallCap 250 index advanced ...