Mumbai, April 16 -- The key equity benchmarks continued to trade with modest gains in mid-morning trade as hopes around a sooner end to the Iran-US war, oil prices falling below $95, and other factors backed the bulls on Dalal Street. Nifty traded above the 24,250 mark. PSU bank shares extended gains for the second consecutive trading session.

At 11:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, jumped 196.27 points or 0.25% to 78,307.51. The Nifty 50 index rose 65.35 points or 0.27% to 24,294.80.

The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The BSE 150 MidCap Index gained 0.38% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index added 0.84%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,755 shares rose and 1,288 shares fell. A total of 190 shar...