Mumbai, Feb. 16 -- The key equity benchmarks continued to trade with modest gains in mid-morning trade, recovering from early losses amid volatile conditions as value buying in select sectors lent support. The Nifty traded above the 25,500 level. Pharma shares advanced after declining in the previous two trading sessions.

At 11:30 ST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, jumped 149.12 points or 0.18% to 82,775.88. The Nifty 50 index rose 58 points or 0.23% to 25,528.40.

In the broader market, the BSE 150 MidCap Index added 0.28% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index shed 0.20%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,628 shares rose and 2,364 shares fell. A total of 198 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

India's foreign exchange res...