Mumbai, March 6 -- The domestic equity benchmarks traded with deep cuts in the afternoon trade, as sentiment remained unsettled amid escalating hostilities between the U.S., Israel, and Iran, fueling fears of a deeper energy supply shock, higher crude prices, renewed inflationary pressures, and a clouded global growth outlook.

The Nifty traded below the 24,600 level. Financial services shares dropped after advancing in the past trading session.

At 12:30 ST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, slumped 632.40 points or 0.79% to 79,412.48. The Nifty 50 index fell 177 points or 0.72% to 24,588.90.

In the broader market, the BSE 150 MidCap Index fell 0.10% and the BSE 250 SmallCap Index rose 0.04%.

The market breadth was positive. On ...