The key equity barometers traded with minor losses in early trade. Nifty opened at 24152 and hit a high of 24173 in first half hour of trade. Nifty IT and Nifty Media shares gained, while Nifty Chemicals and Nifty Financial Services shares retreated. At 09:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, lost 301.71 points or 0.39% to 76,933.75. The Nifty 50 index inched down 98.75 points or 0.41% to 24,056.15. The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The BSE 150 MidCap Index posted modest losses of 0.35% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index edged lower by 0.47%. The market breadth was fragile. On the BSE, 1931 shares advanced and 2808 shares declined. A total of 245 shares were unchanged. Nifty IT index added 0.50% to 30365. The index has inched higher by 3.61% in last one month and retreated 12.77% over last one year. Coforge, inching higher 2.37%, led the gainers followed by Persistent Systems, up 1.56% and HCL Technologies, gaining 1.03%, respectively. Out of 10 index constituents, 7 are reporting gains today. Nifty Media index inched up 0.02% to 1602. The index has edged up 4.17% in last one month and edged lower by 2.86% over last one year. Tips Music, edging up 0.92%, led the gainers followed by Saregama India, adding 0.72% and D B Corp, gaining 0.57%, respectively. Out of 10 index constituents, 5 are reporting gains today. Nifty Chemicals index shed 1.07%. The index has risen slightly by 0.73% in last one month and posted modest gains of 5.26% over last one year. Himadri Special, declining 7.71%, led the losers followed by Solar Industries, easing 2.14% and SRF, losing 1.90%, respectively. Out of 20 index constituents, 15 are reporting loss today. In NIFTY500, Adani Total Gas is the top gainer today, jumping 5.30% to Rs 682. The counter is slightly up 3.81% in last one year. It recorded an average volume quantity of 56325.17 in last five sessions compared to 79046.73 over last one month. Asian markets slumped on Wednesday. China’s Shanghai composite is significantly lower by 2.69%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is slightly higher by 0.13%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 is sharply lower by 3.16%.