The key equity barometers traded with marginal losses in early trade. Nifty opened at 24472 and hit a high of 24473 in first half hour of trade. Nifty PSU Bank, Nifty Metal and Nifty Bank shares gained, while Nifty IT and Nifty FMCG shares declined. At 09:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, edged lower by 373.68 points or 0.48% to 77,780.57. The Nifty 50 index posted modest losses of 85.15 points or 0.35% to 24,386.55. The broader market performed better than frontline indices. The BSE 150 MidCap Index inched down 0.11% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index moved lower by 0.15%. The market breadth was fragile. On the BSE, 2091 shares advanced and 2441 shares fell. A total of 245 shares were unchanged. Nifty PSU Bank index advanced 1.95% to 8809. The index has risen slightly by 2.12% in last one month and jumped 22.86% over last one year. Punjab Natl.Bank, gaining 4.49%, led the gainers followed by Bank of Maha, edging up 3.37% and Union Bank (I), up 2.55%, respectively. All 12 constituents are advancing today. Nifty Metal index edged higher by 1% to 13232. The index has edged up 3.96% in last one month and soared 42.48% over last one year. Natl. Aluminium, strengthening 8.22%, led the gainers followed by Hindustan Copper, advancing 6.03% and Hindalco Inds., inching higher 2.70%, respectively. Out of 15 index constituents, 11 are reporting gains today. Nifty IT index posted modest losses of 0.91%. The index has advanced 9.68% in last one month and edged lower by 7.88% over last one year. Persistent Systems, slipping 1.61%, led the losers followed by TCS, edging lower 1.44% and Mphasis, losing 1.33%, respectively. All 10 index constituents are reporting losses today. In NIFTY500, Finolex Cables is the top gainer today, surging 9.39% to Rs 1321.45. The counter has posted strong gains of 42.79% in last one year. It recorded an average volume quantity of 153172.33 in last five sessions compared to 81678.14 over last one month. Asian markets edged lower on Wednesday. China’s Shanghai composite is modestly higher by 0.22%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is trading lower by 1.19%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 is trading higher by 0.77%.