Mumbai, Feb. 25 -- The headline equity benchmarks traded with decent gains in early afternoon trade. The Nifty traded above the 25,550 mark. Auto shares advanced after declining for previous trading session.

At 12:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, surged 418.47 points or 0.51% to 82,624.84. The Nifty 50 index gained 173.10 points or 0.68% to 25,597.75.

In the broader market, the BSE 150 MidCap Index jumped 0.77% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index rallied 0.66%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 2,211 shares rose and 1,727 shares fell. A total of 211 shares were unchanged.

Derivatives:

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, slumped 8.05% to 13.01. The Nifty 30 ...