Mumbai, Feb. 10 -- The key equity benchmarks continued to trade with modest gains in the early afternoon trade. Nifty traded tad above the 25,950 mark. Metal stocks extended gains for the third consecutive trading session.

At 12:30 ST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, jumped 303.49 points or 0.36% to 84,369.24. The Nifty 50 index rose 87.65 points or 0.34% to 25,955.65.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.29% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index added 0.60%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,658 shares rose and 1,371 shares fell. A total of 168 shares were unchanged.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, fell 2.05% to 11.94. The Nifty ...