Mumbai, July 1 -- The key equity benchmarks traded with significant gains in the mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty traded above the 24,000 level. Auto shares extended gains for the second consecutive trading session.

At 14:28 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, jumped 563.90 points or 0.72% to 77,042.57. The Nifty 50 index surged 168.70 points or 0.71% to 24,034.45.

The broader market underperformed the frontline indices. The BSE 150 MidCap Index rose 0.23% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index rallied 0.24%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 2,290 shares rose and 1,871 shares fell. A total of 209 shares were unchanged.

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, fell 1.98% to ...