Mumbai, March 5 -- The frontline indices continued to trade with modest losses in mid-morning trade. The Nifty hovered below the 22,300 level. IT shares declined for the second consecutive trading session.

At 11:27 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, tumbled 412.82 points or 0.56% to 73,459.47. The Nifty 50 index declined 116.95 points or 0.52% to 22,288.65.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index shed 0.19% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index fell 0.55%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 1,430 shares rose and 2,340 shares fell. A total of 197 shares were unchanged.

Economy:

The seasonally adjusted HSBC India Services Business Activity Index registered 60.6 in February, down from 61.8 in January. Despite having...