Mumbai, Feb. 18 -- The key equity benchmarks traded with minor cuts in early trade. The Nifty traded below the 25,750 mark. IT and private bank shares declined, while metal, PSU bank and FMCG stocks advanced.

At 09:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, declined 22.83 points or 0.03% to 83,428.13. The Nifty 50 index fell 3 points or 0.01% to 25,722.40.

The broader market outperformed the frontline indices. The BSE 150 MidCap Index added 0.26% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index rose 0.45%.

The market breadth was strong. On the BSE, 2,131 shares rose and 939 shares fell. A total of 157 shares were unchanged.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth Rs 995.21 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were n...