Mumbai, Sept. 11 -- The headline equity benchmarks traded with minor gains in early afternoon trade. The Nifty traded above the 25,000 level. PSU bank shares extended gains for two consecutive trading session.

At 12:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex gained 125.95 points or 0.15% to 81,545.60. The Nifty 50 index rose 35.15 points or 0.14% to 25,007.60.

The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index rose 0.19% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index jumped 0.31%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE 2,262 shares rose and 1,677 shares fell. A total of 208 shares were unchanged.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, shed 0.23...