Mumbai, April 20 -- The key equity benchmarks continued to trade with modest gains in mid-morning trade even as investors remained cautious over renewed escalation in West Asia conflict. Nifty traded above the 24,450 mark.

PSU Bank shares witnessed buying demand for second consecutive trading sessions.

At 11:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex jumped 289 points or 0.37% to 78,782.54. The Nifty 50 index rose 108 points or 0.44% to 24,461.40.

In the broader market the frontline indices. The BSE 150 MidCap Index gained 0.31% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index added 0.27%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 2,034 shares rose and 2,084 shares fell. A total of 213 shares were unchanged.

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of th...