Mumbai, Feb. 11 -- The key equity benchmarks traded sideways in the afternoon trade. The Nifty traded below the 25,950 mark. Auto, pharma and PSU bank shares advanced while IT, private bank and media shares declined.

At 13:28 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, declined 59.75 points or 0.07% to 84,215.77. The Nifty 50 index rose 9.35 points or 0.04% to 25,943.30.

In the broader market, the S&P BSE Mid-Cap index fell 0.11% and the S&P BSE Small-Cap index shed 0.05%.

The market breadth was negative. On the BSE, 1,798 shares rose and 2,238 shares fell. A total of 208 shares were unchanged.

The NSE's India VIX, a gauge of the market's expectation of volatility over the near term, fell 2.16% to 11.41.

Gainers & Losers:

Eicher M...