Mumbai, June 8 -- The key equity benchmarks traded with major cuts in early trade, mirroring a broad selloff across Asian markets amid escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and a sharp rise in crude oil prices. Investor sentiment was further pressured by concerns over a possible interest rate hike in the United States. Nifty traded tad below the 23,150 mark. IT, realty and auto shares declined while PSU bank, pharma and media stocks advanced.

At 09:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, tanked 715.30 points or 0.96% to 73,533.57. The Nifty 50 index fell 217.80 points or 0.93% to 23,148.90.

In the broader market, the BSE 150 MidCap Index declined 0.92% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index shed 0.84%.

The market breadth...