Mumbai, Aug. 25 -- The domestic equity benchmarks traded with moderate gains in the afternoon trade, driven by strong performance in IT stocks. The upward momenturm continued as U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled a potential interest rate cut next month. Investors will monitor the upcoming manufacturing PMI, services PMI and composite PMI values scheduled for later this week. The Nifty hovered above the 24,950 mark.

Barring media all the sectoral indices on the NSE were traded in green with IT, realty and consumer durable shares leading the rally.

At 13:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, advanced 406.31 points or 0.51% to 81,721.86. The Nifty 50 index gained 123.90 points or 0.49% to 24,992.50.

In the broad...