The key equity barometers traded with modest losses in early trade. Nifty opened at 24224 and hit a high of 24270 in first half hour of trade. Nifty Healthcare Index, Nifty Pharma and Nifty Auto shares gained, while Nifty Realty and Nifty IT shares declined. At 09:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, inched down 394.29 points or 0.51% to 77,333.87. The Nifty 50 index lost 61.55 points or 0.25% to 24,226.10. The broader market surpassed the frontline indices. The BSE 150 MidCap Index posted modest losses of 0.32% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index edged higher by 0.08%. The market breadth was soft. On the BSE, 2091 shares advanced and 2433 shares retreated. A total of 282 shares were unchanged. Nifty Healthcare Index index posted modest gains of 0.49% to 16509. The index has risen slightly by 0.90% in last one month and rose 12.28% over last one year. Piramal Pharma, up 2.56%, led the gainers followed by Alkem Lab, inching higher 2.25% and Biocon, gaining 1.89%, respectively. Out of 20 index constituents, 14 are reporting gains today. Nifty Pharma index added 0.45% to 26460. The index has inched higher by 2.72% in last one month and registered sharp gains of 18.97% over last one year. Piramal Pharma, edging up 2.56%, led the gainers followed by Alkem Lab, adding 2.25% and Biocon, adding 1.89%, respectively. Out of 20 index constituents, 12 are reporting gains today. Nifty Realty index slipped 1.13%. The index has slipped by 1.09% in last one month and edged higher by 1.14% over last one year. Lodha Developers, edging lower 2.39%, led the losers followed by Godrej Propert., down 1.49% and DLF, losing 1.19%, respectively. Out of 10 index constituents, 8 are reporting loss today. In NIFTY500, Welspun Living is the top gainer today, registering sharp gains of 8.41% to Rs 182.35. The counter has jumped 43.52% in last one year. It recorded an average volume quantity of 695670.83 in last five sessions compared to 273703.41 over last one month. Asian markets sank on Tuesday. China’s Shanghai composite is lower by 0.53%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is down 0.47%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 is firmly lower by 2.15%.