Mumbai, Oct. 23 -- The key equity benchmarks remained firmly in negative territory in early afternoon, as elevated crude oil prices and weakness in heavyweight stocks dampened investor sentiment. The Nifty slipped below the 22,450 mark.

Consumer durables shares witnessed selling pressure for sixth consecutive trading sessions.

At 12:25 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex tanked 634.07 points or 0.90% to 72,590.95. The Nifty 50 index slumped 267 points or 1.18% to 22,420.65.

The broader market underperformed the frontline indices. The BSE 150 MidCap Index declined 2.81% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index fell 3.16%.

The market breadth was weak. On the BSE, 592 shares rose and 3,626 shares fell. A total of 208 shares were unchanged...