Mumbai, Sep 17 - A key index of the Indian equities markets, which zoomed over 134 points in early trades, shed most of its gains Thursday afternoon to trade 42 higher than its previous close.

At 2.04 p.m., the sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened higher at 16,686.38 points, was up 41.97 points or 0.25 percent at 16,719.01 points.

The index hit a high of 16,820.02 points in the morning session, but slipped to a low of 16,636.55 points.

Around the same time, the S&P CNX Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was trading marginally higher at 4,967.15, up 0.18 percent.

Broader market indices were also in the green, with the BSE midcap index trading 0.23 percent higher. The BSE smallcap index was up 0.30 percent.