Mumbai, Aug. 29 -- The headline equity benchmarks pared all gains and traded with minor losses in the mid-afternoon trade. The Nifty slipped below the 24,500 level. Private bank shares advanced after declining in the past two consecutive trading sessions.

At 14:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex declined 102.12 points or 0.12% to 79,978.57. The Nifty 50 index lost 27.20 points or 0.11% to 24,476.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index slipped 0.16% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index shed 0.04%.

The market breadth was positive. On the BSE, 2,021 shares rose and 1,965 shares fell. A total of 204 shares were unchanged.

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, slipped 2...