Mumbai, Nov. 11 -- The key equity benchmarks pared most of the gains and traded with moderate gains in mid-afternoon trade as investors turned cautious and resorted to profit booking at higher levels. The cautious undertone persisted despite easing crude oil prices from elevated levels and continued foreign fund inflows. The Nifty traded near the 25,200 mark.

Private Bank shares climbed for two consecutive trading sessions.

At 14:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex advanced 622 points or 0.81% to 81,727.57. The Nifty 50 index 162.60 points or 0.65% to 25,209.85.

In the broader market, the Nifty MidCap 150 Index rose 0.63% and the Nifty SmallCap 250 Index added 1.31%.

The market breadth was strong. On the NSE, 2,541 shares ...